


Shadows of the past

by Hannah_Girl



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Case Fic, Custody Battle, F/F, F/M, Gen, Haunting, M/M, Paranormal, Past Memories, Unplanned Pregnancy, Vampire!Jo, Werewolf!eileen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 11:55:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22849756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hannah_Girl/pseuds/Hannah_Girl
Summary: A new and expanded Team Free Will relocates to a bunker in Maine only to find themselves in the middle of multiple cases involving a mysterious witch that has impregnated an entire town, a strange haunting, and many other mysteries. Castiel and Hannah struggle with their new family when an extremely troubled teenage Claire comes to live with them, along with Jack and an unplanned pregnancy.
Relationships: Castiel/Hannah (Supernatural), Charlie Bradbury/Jo Harvelle, Gabriel/Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester, Jo Harvelle/Dean Winchester, Kaia Nieves/Claire Novak, Meg/crowley (eventual)
Kudos: 7
Collections: Fanfiction Writers United Alternative Universe Collection, Fanfiction Writers United Angst Collection, Fanfiction Writers United M/F Collection, Takeout Tacos





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Please note that tags may change as the story goes. Things evolve, things get darker, angstier, etc. If there are any trigger warnings that pop up, I will warn of the particular chapter and I will change the tags accordingly. So just keep that in mind, that I don’t necessarily know how dark things will get at this point as I tend to let my muse do the writing. Also, note that side pairings are often known to change in my stories too, so be aware of that as I will alter the tags for that too. Nothing is certain.

When Castiel finally pulled his “pimp car” as Dean so fondly called the gold-colored ‘78 Lincoln, off to the side of the ominous building nestled deep in the Maine forest, it was nearly midnight.

“Looks like shit,” Claire commented from behind the driver’s seat as she pulled her headphones off and opened the door. “Perfect place for us all to live, I guess.”

“This is an auxiliary building to the bunker which is within a mile radius,” Castiel explained, glancing at Hannah in the passenger seat as he frowned at Claire’s comment. “We will be residing here for a month.”

Hannah nodded her understanding before turning to glance behind her at the Nephilim. “What do you think, Jack?” she asked.

Jack didn’t respond at first. Instead, he got out of the car, gazed around at the beautiful autumn foliage, inhaled the crisp night Maine air, heavy with the scent of birch, pine, and maple. “It’s wonderful!” he exclaimed, beaming in delight. “Can we explore the forest?”

“Perhaps tomorrow, Jack, it’s late now,” Castiel replied as he glanced at Claire, who leaned against the car, her arms folded across her chest. The angel sighed as he looked at his daughter. Or rather, Jimmy Novak’s daughter. The Sixteen-year-old was unhappy, had been since the moment he had been awarded custody of her from the foster care house she had been living in. Castiel knew she would rather be with him than at the foster care place, but only just. She’d rather be on her own, but she was far too young, and so she took the route she hated the least- but still hated- Castiel.

“If you’d like,” Castiel offered, looking at the girl. “You can choose your room.”

“Damn straight,” Claire scoffed as she took her first good look at the place. It was what appeared to be a large cottage home nestled in the trees. It was built in the late 17th century, and it indeed showed it’s age. The red color on the wood was faded, the roof was dense with vegetation.

Castiel glanced at Hannah as they approached wearily. “The men of letters kept this house up until their demise in the 1950s,” he told her. “It has not been inhabited since then. From what I understand, it housed the protected families of the men of letters, as well as many artifacts that they chose to keep separate from those in the bunker.”

“So, we are living in some crappy old safe house?” Claire said with a groan. “Sounds great.”

“It will need some repair,” Hannah replied, looking at the teenager. “But I think we can reside here well enough.”

“Yeah, whatever, Angel Lady,” Claire scoffed. Castiel sighed. The teen had been less than enthusiastic about his relationship with Hannah. Especially since it had happened so suddenly. Hannah had been dead, but she returned from the empty so suddenly, and he hadn’t realized how much he missed her, and the two had been inseparable for a few months now. Jack, of course, being accepting, had loved Hannah from the start and accepted her, the two got along very well, but Claire, of course, made it clear she despised her.

Inside the house, the air was stale. The furniture was covered in dust and cobwebs. It was a large house with many rooms and a second and third floor. The red tapestry carpets were old and faded; the wood furniture was warped and bent, chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Dull paintings hung decorated the walls, and broken statues dotted the halls. It was a very fancy house in its time but had given way to the passage of time.

“Can we fix all of this up?” Jack asked eagerly as they came into the library room. A large study that housed walls and walls of books, and shelves full of artifacts, with some tables and chairs in the center of the room. This seemed to be the focal point of the Men of Letters, as this seemed to be the part of the house that was more up to date than the rest. Fifties-style furniture, radio equipment, and instruments adorned many shelves and card tables.

“Yes, like this,” Castiel put a hand to the wall and let his angelic energy move through the house. Within moments, the entire place was transformed from an old decrepit colonial house to a beautiful heritage home.

“Can we decorate it for Halloween?” Jack responded quickly, beaming as he and Claire gazed around at the suddenly restored home. Even Claire looked slightly impressed. Jack looked at Castiel hopefully, waiting for him to respond to his question, but the angel felt confused. He glanced at Hannah, who cocked her head to the side quizzically.

“What’s Halloween?” Hannah asked. Claire smirked as she disappeared up the stairs, mumbling under her breath about clueless angels.

“It’s something Dean told me about,” Jack explained. “Where we adorn the place in pumpkins and foliage and then dress up and knock on people’s doors to get candy. I’d like to celebrate, can we please do this, Castiel?”

Castiel couldn’t resist Jack’s smiling face as the boy begged him for this human tradition. He couldn’t help but smile as well. “Well, we will need to find the funds for all of this,” he said. “Hannah and I will need jobs, and we will see what Sam and Dean say when they get here. But I don’t see a problem with it, Jack.”

Jack grinned happily at the thought. “Go find your room,” Hannah encouraged. The Nephilim hurried up the stairs after Claire.

Once they were alone, Castiel, turned to Hannah. “I’m sorry about Claire,” he said with a sigh as the two of them finished walking through the first floor and came to a beautiful bedroom near the rear of the house.

This room seemed very picturesque and was steeped in the atmosphere of the 17th century. The large bed bore a pretty white lace comforter, large deep cherry wood frame and headboard, the hardwood floors were covered in tapestry woven rugs. A massive cherry wood armoire and vanity set stood off to the other side of the room, and the white lace curtains barely hid the thick foliage of trees that were visible just beyond the double pane windows. A small thin-framed door led outside and off to one side of the room was a large marble bathroom with a bathtub. It seemed that the men of letters had at least updated the house with proper plumbing and water since there was a sink and a toilet that wouldn’t have been present in the 17th century.

To his earlier comment, Hannah sighed, she walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of the fluffy white comforter. She looked at Castiel. “She doesn’t seem to care for me much,” she said.

“Just give her time,” Castiel said, sitting down next to her. Hannah sighed and tensed up the moment Castiel sat next to her. She immediately got up and started pacing. Castiel frowned, watching her.

“Hannah,” he didn’t understand why she was so stressed all of a sudden. Her eyes darted at him, then away as she inhaled.

“I have to tell you something,” she said, her voice nervous. “And I don’t quite know how.”

Castiel got up and moved to stand in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders, causing her to stop her frantic pacing. She gazed up at him, her blue eyes wide with anxiety. “I… I think I’m pregnant.”

Castiel blinked, not quite sure he’d heard her correctly. That was the last thing he ever expected her to say. “You’re what?” he stammered. She sighed, turning away from him, staring at the window.

“I don’t know how,” she said, her voice shaky as she turned her back to him. “I’m an angel, and Caroline is dead… I… I don’t know how…” she sounded scared.

Castiel sighed and came over to her, slipping his arms around her waist, holding her close to him. “Well, I can probably surmise how exactly it occurred,” he said in a light-hearted tone. “I believe it happened when you and I-”

Hannah pivoted around in his arms, cutting him off and giving him a small smile. “I know about that part,” she assured him, blushing slightly. “But I’m an angel… I didn’t think it was possible.”

“I didn’t either,” he admitted. “I’ve never heard of it happening to another angel. Do you know for sure?”

Hannah shook her head. “Jo wants to take me to a doctor when she and the others get into town,” she said. “But she seems to think it’s possible. I… I’m scared, Castiel. What will Heaven think?”

Castiel smirked. Not at her fear. “Heaven hasn’t approved of anything I’ve done these last ten years, I don’t see why they’d start now,” he pointed out. He held her tightly and kissed her forehead. “It’s going to be okay, Hannah.”

Castiel had mixed emotions about the possible pregnancy. He had found taking in Claire and Jack to be challenging, but he was enjoying it despite the hardships. But a baby, that would be something entirely new. He was worried for Hannah, he had never heard of an angel becoming pregnant, and he didn’t know what the risks would be. Of course, it made him feel guilty, he should have been more careful, but he had no idea this was even possible.

But he didn’t want Hannah to worry or be scared, and he didn’t want her to think he didn’t want this. He certainly did want this, but he was terrified of the possibilities. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face and smiled. “This is wonderful news.”

“You’re happy then?” she looked at him, her eyes meeting his, as they glistened with emotion.

Castiel only responded by cupping her face with both hands and kissing her. She practically melted into his arms, her arms snaking around his shoulders as she returned the kiss. Castiel closed his eyes and deepened the kiss, his lips parting against hers. She inhaled as he traced his fingers down the side of her neck.

Hannah pulled back only to look into his eyes, smiling as she knew where this was leading. She tugged at his shirt as he hoisted her up onto the bed. Castiel pulled off his shirt and smiled as she pressed her hands up and down his bare chest, then kissing his skin. Her soft touch was quickly having its effect, and he realized how much they both needed this. It had been a long road trip from Kansas with a troubled teen who seemed to hate them both, and a way too curious for his own good Nephilim.

Hannah sighed in pleasure as her shirt and bra came off, and Castiel knelt over her on the bed, kissing every inch of her skin. She sunk her head into the pillow, arching her back as his hand roamed up and down her body. He kissed her neck, letting his lips trace along the side of her neck, down her shoulders, and back up again, his mouth meeting hers for a deep open mouth kiss.

More clothes came off, and soon there was nothing between them but skin. As they both burrowing under the covers, Castiel continued with his kisses and caresses, his hands kneading her skin as she groaned needily. “Cas… tiel…” she breathed his name against his lips.

Castiel sat up as he alighted himself over her, admiring the angel woman’s body underneath him. He smiled as she gazed up at him, the sultry look in her eyes beckoning him. And he was happy to oblige as he moved into her, eliciting a sharp inhale and a gentle quiver of her body as he pressed his body against hers.

Their eyes met as he slinked a hand under her body and felt her hands grip his shoulder blades from behind as he moved in and out slowly. Her gasps and sighs matched the rhythm of his movements. He felt himself building up, and as she gasped out, he let himself release as well.

He gasped as he rolled off of her and lay down beside her, quickly pulling her into his arms as she lay her head on his shoulder. He rustled his fingers through her dark tresses as they both lay in comfortable silence.

Castiel felt satisfied at this moment. He didn’t want to think of all the obstacles that lay before them in the future. He didn’t want to think about the fact that Michael was out there somewhere, the archangel’s menacing presence seemed to be somehow felt no matter where on Earth or in Heaven they were. He didn’t want to think about how Claire hated him, and how she didn’t approve of Hannah, the angel he had so quickly fallen deeply in love with. He didn’t want to think about how Jack’s life was always in danger, just for being a Nephilim. He didn’t want to wonder about Sam and Dean and their troubles, nor did he want to worry about this possible pregnancy and what it could mean for everyone’s plans. He just wanted to lay here with Hannah in his arms, and worry about nothing at all.

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

_ Hannah cried out in pain as the guards dragged her through the palace and deposited her in front of the Pharaoh. She trembled as she lay where they had thrown her, blood trickling down her face. Her body ached, she couldn’t count the number of bruises she felt as she tried to curl in on herself, lowering her gaze to the marble floor as the pharaoh approached. _

_ “Found this Hebrew girl stealing from the market,” the guards said. “What should we do with her?” Hannah kept her gaze fixed on the floor as she felt the pharaoh's menacing presence over her. The imposing man reached down and grabbed her roughly by the chin and forced her to look up at him. The cold piercing brown eyes met her blue ones as he seemed to regard her, studying her, as if he was trying to decide on an excellent cut of meat. _

_ “You beat her,” the pharaoh commented, eyes lingering over the many lacerations and bruises on Hannah’s face as he held his firm grip on her face. She whimpered softly, trying to pull away from him, but he only gripped her tighter, fingers digging painfully into her already tender skin. _

_ “She put up a fight,” the guards explained. “Had to teach her a lesson.” _

_ “Take her to Mefretari,” the pharaoh instructed. “My wife could use a servant.” _

_ Hannah cried out again as the guards grabbed her by the shoulders, yanking her from the pharaoh's grip and dragging her through the palace. Down a hall, through a few doors, up some stairs, and finally they arrived at a door. A few knocks and she was hauled in. The room smelled heavily of the scent of frankincense and myrrh, and the floor was covered in soft rugs. Thin curtains parted revealing the luxurious bed chambers as a woman rose from where she sat in front of the window overlooking the kingdom. _

_ The woman turned, revealing her soft features, her thick hair hanging in numerous braids, adorned with beautiful ivory hair clips. Ivory beads hung from her neck, and she wore the most delicate blue linen sheath dress that hugged her delicate figure. _

_ “Did you have to beat her?” the woman demanded angrily at the guards. “Leave her and get out.” _

_ The guards carelessly dropped Hannah at the woman’s feet and hurried out. Once they were alone, Mefretari knelt in front of Hannah, gently brushing a hand to her chin, coaxing her to look at her. “Do not be afraid,” she said gently. “I won’t hurt you.” _

_ There was a soothing calmness to the woman’s voice that calmed Hannah’s fears. She continued to tremble, her body fatigued and her emotions frayed. Mefretari got up and crossed the room, digging through her vanity for a few things and grabbing a small ceramic basin of water. She hurried back to Hannah and dabbed at the gash on her cheek with a damp cloth. _

_ Hannah winced in pain, trying to shrink away. “Please…” she begged. But the woman had a gentle touch, and after a while, she stopped resisting. _

_ “I know what you are,” the woman said as she cleaned the wounds. “I’m an angel too; my name is Castiel…” _

Hannah gasped as she sat up in bed. Castiel was instantly at her side, gripping her shoulder as she turned to look at him, her eyes wide as reality began to return around her.

“Hannah,” Castiel soothed, rubbing her bare shoulders as she composed herself. “It’s okay; you fell asleep.”

Hannah glanced at him, arching a brow with confusion. “I did…” she vaguely remembered the feeling she had. A strange weakness in her body as her consciousness slowly melted away while she lay in Castiel’s arms after making love.

“How?” she murmured. She’d never fallen asleep before. She was an angel; she didn’t need sleep. But it was as if her body just shut down. And where was she?

“I was somewhere else,” she said as she sat there in bed, Castiel watching her with concern. “Ancient Egypt. There was a woman… but she was you. She was your vessel… I don’t understand.”

“You had a dream,” Castiel tried to explain. “It is known to happen when you sleep. Though I didn’t know it was possible for angels.”

“It felt like more than a dream,” Hannah insisted. “It felt familiar. I’ve been in that situation before.”

Castiel pulled her into his arms, and she lay her head down on his shoulder as they both lay down in bed again. He rubbed her back soothingly as she lay there, trying to sort out the confusion. “Maybe it has something to do with the pregnancy,” Castiel offered as a suggestion. “After all, I haven’t known any angels who could have children; there’s no telling what the effects might be.”

Hannah thought about that. It had been a few days since they had arrived in Maine now and yesterday, Jo and Charlie had taken Hannah to a doctor to confirm her pregnancy. She was still getting used to the idea; she wasn’t even sure how it was possible. They had been keeping it secret for now, other than Jo and Charlie, Castiel was the only one who knew, she wasn’t sure how she’d tell Claire and Jack. She dreaded Claire’s reaction.

“Is someone going to come out here and feed us or what!” Claire’s loud bellowing from the kitchen roused Hannah from her thoughts. She groaned and looked at Castiel.

“They both have school today,” Castiel explained. “We should go see them off.” Hannah nodded and got out of bed. A rush of cold hair hit her nude body like a freight train, and she shrunk back, not prepared for the cold.

“It’s getting colder,” Castiel said as he got up too. The two of them quickly got dressed, Castiel donning his typical beige trench coat and suit, and Hannah choosing her typical gray blazer and navy blue blouse, and jeans.

Moments later, the two of them made their way to the kitchen where they found Claire sitting at the table impatiently tapping her foot while Jack sat across from her, looking slightly confused.

“Are you unable to make yourself something to eat?” Castiel questioned as he moved into the kitchen to rummage through the groceries he and Hannah had purchased yesterday.

“You’re supposed to be the parent,” Claire scoffed. Hannah sat down at the table in between Claire and Jack while Castiel went to work making some eggs and toast.

Hannah sighed. She was still preoccupied with the dream she had had, but she glanced over at Jack. “Are you looking forward to your first day of school?” she asked him. She smiled as the Nephilim turned his attention to her.

“I still don’t understand why I have to go to school,” he responded. “You and Castiel can teach me about the cosmos, can’t you?”

“Yes we can,” Hannah replied. She was confident that as angels, she and Castiel possessed more knowledge than any human could have, and even though Jack was only a year old, there was no doubt he was learning fast. “But humans have laws here that require you to attend school.”

“And it’s not just academics that’s important,” Castiel added as he put a plate of eggs down in front of them all. “You will benefit from interacting with other children. You will develop social skills.”

“He’s a one-year-old in a teenager’s body,” Claire pointed out as she ate her food. “Kids are going to roast him alive.”

“Perhaps you should help him,” Hannah suggested. “Make sure he fits in.”

Claire rolled her eyes and scoffed at Hannah. “Like I don’t have my own problems,” she retorted. “Like angel body snatchers who think that just because they are screwing my fake dad, they think they can pretend they are my mother now.”

“Claire-” Castiel attempted but was cut off when Claire got up abruptly.

“Come on Jack we’re going to be late for the bus,” Claire demanded as she brushed past them all and hurried out the door.

Hannah sighed, nerves a little frayed. For the most part, she tried to avoid Claire’s wrath, but even speaking to the teenager seemed to incur some kind of backlash. She didn’t know how she was ever going to form any sort of bond with her.

She felt a hand grip her arm and turned to see Jack. “Teenagers have hormones,” he explained with a bright smile. “That causes them to act chaotic and irrational.”

Hannah smiled, putting a hand over his hand. “Thank you, Jack,” she said genuinely. The Nephilim leaned forward to hug her before getting out of his seat and hurrying out the door after Claire.

Hannah glanced across the table at Castiel who sat there looking perplexed. “I don’t know,” he offered. “Maybe living here for awhile and having some kind of permanence will help her.”

Hannah nodded. She knew she shouldn’t let Claire’s attitude upset her so much. After all, she wasn’t trying to be Claire’s mother; she only wanted to love Castiel. She’d grown pretty attached to Jack, but it didn’t seem like she’d ever reach any kind of understanding with Claire.

Despite trying to calm down, Hannah quickly looked away as she felt that familiar lump in her throat and promptly moved to wipe tears. She heard Castiel get up and suddenly he was in front of her, pulling her out of her seat and pulling her close.

Hannah had always been unique in that unlike other angels; she felt emotions deeply. She had often thought of this as a failing as it set her apart from other angels. She had learned to control her feelings, but she felt so out of control now. As if she was always drowning in a sea of worry, inadequacy, and anxiety. She buried her face in Castiel’s shirt, breath hitching on a sob. She felt Castiel’s hand on the back of her head as he pressed his face to the top of her head, enveloping her entire head in his tender embrace.

“I know Claire’s attitude is frustrating,” Castiel said softly, his breath against the top of her head. “But it must be hard for her. She barely tolerates me as it is, but I have managed to get her to respond on occasion, perhaps because I look like her father. But she’s having trouble adjusting to all the changes around her.”

“I know,” Hannah murmured into him. “I’d never try to replace her mother. I don’t know how to be a mother to anyone, Castiel. I’m an angel. I’m a soldier. A warrior. This…” she trailed off, pulling back from him quickly as a sudden wave of nausea had her bolting for the nearest bathroom.

She sunk to her knees before getting sick, her entire body seemed to clench as she gagged and retched. She felt Castiel’s hands pull back her hair and rub her back as she proceeded to lose her breakfast.

“It’s called morning sickness,” Castiel told her as she finished, wiping her mouth and taking in a breath as she collapsed backward against Castiel. “It’s common in pregnancy, but I have read that it typically only lasts until the second trimester.”

“How do you know this?” Hannah breathed as Castiel held her.

“I consulted the google when Jack’s mother was pregnant,” Castiel explained matter of factly. He sighed, kissing her on the cheek. “Don’t worry, I will consult the google on every aspect of pregnancy and parenthood, I’ll take plenty of notes so I can guide you through it all.”

“Perhaps I’ll have to consult this google too,” Hannah responded. She pressed her forehead against the nape of his neck as he picked her up into his arms and carried her to the front room, laying her on the couch.

Castiel dropped a blanket over Hannah and kissed her on the head lovingly. “I’ll make you some soup,” he decided as he brought her his phone and showed her how to access google.

As Castiel hurried to the kitchen, Hannah was deep into learning about the first months of pregnancy when she was startled by a pounding on the door. She put the phone down on the coffee table and sat up just as Castiel rushed for the door.

Hannah was not expecting who appeared behind the door when Castiel opened it. “Gabriel?”

The archangel hurried inside and quickly closed the door behind him, looking at Castiel. “Hey I need to crash with you for a while, bro,” he insisted, looking anxious as he glanced at Hannah. “Hey Hans,” he greeted.

“Gabriel… how are you? I thought you were…” Castiel stammered.

“Yeah yeah, I know Mike stabbed me,” Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Whatever, it didn’t work. Anyway, I have to hide out here from Loki.”

“Loki?” Castiel raised a brow as he sat down on the couch next to Hannah and Gabriel plopped down on a chair. “I thought you killed him.”

Gabriel gave Castiel a pointed look. “He’s a  _ trickster _ , Cas,” he informed him, as if he should have known. “He taught me his tricks, remember?”

“Why are you hiding from him?” Hannah asked. “Maybe you shouldn’t have told him you were alive.”

“Okay, so he and I might have been… you know…” Gabriel looked at them both knowingly. Castiel blinked, understanding in his eyes as he glanced at Hannah who was still trying to figure out what exactly she was supposed to know.

“They are having sex,” Castiel informed her bluntly.

“Oh,” Hannah said, realization dawning. “And… you don’t want to continue doing that?”

“Thanks for putting it so delicately, Cas,” Gabriel replied.

“May I remind you that Loki sold you to Asmodeus?” Castiel pointed out. “Do you really think associating with him is such a good idea?”

“Look, he overreacted over the Lucifer shit,” Gabriel explained. “He tends to overreact. Which is why I’m here. It’ll all blow over eventually, but for the time being, I need somewhere to crash.”

“You may stay here as long as you like,” Castiel replied. “But I am caring for Claire and Jack and I should warn you that Claire is not in the best of attitudes these days.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Like I’m intimidated by moody, angsty teens,” he replied. “Thanks, bro, knew I could count on you. Hey, where are those two chuckleheads?”

“You mean Sam and Dean?” Castiel surmised. “In the bunker around the corner. We’re manning this auxiliary building for them. They are living there with Jo, Eileen, and Charlie.”

Gabriel started to get up. “I better go pay my respects,” he replied. Hannah glanced at Castiel, their eyes meeting, each with a  _ should we tell him? _ Look in their eyes.

“Wait,” Castiel held up a hand before Gabriel could leave. “If you are going to stay here for a while, you should know that Hannah is pregnant.”

“Uh come again?” Gabriel blinked, looking back and forth between the two angels. “Which one of you thought  _ that _ would be a good idea?”

“Neither of us planned it,” Hannah responded, feeling nervous at Gabriel’s incredulous reaction. “It just… happened.”

“Yeah right,” Gabriel said ingeniously. “That’s what they all say. Look can I just say what a bad idea this is? Do you have any idea what will happen when Michael finds out?”

Hannah pursed her lips, thinking about Michael. She swallowed with apprehension as she gazed down at the floor. Gabriel sighed, got up and knelt down in front of her, gripping her shoulder. “Hey, Sis it’s okay,” he assured her. “It’s just… not exactly something Mikey is going to be down for, and I heard it on the grapevine that Luci and Raph may still be out there so… just be careful, okay?”

“We haven’t told anyone except Jo and Charlie,” Castiel replied. “We’re trying to find the right time to tell Sam and Dean… and Jack and Claire.”

“Well my lips are sealed,” Gabriel said assured them. “Hey I’ll be back later, I’m going to hit up the Winchesters for some cash or something.”

With that, Gabriel hurried out of the house, leaving Castiel and Hannah alone again.


	3. Chapter 3

"Why pumpkins?" Jack asked as he glanced around at all the activities as the three of them approached the entrance to the pumpkin patch.

"Well I consulted the google for appropriate Halloween related activities," Castiel explained as he and Hannah came to a stop at the ticket booth. "Visiting a pumpkin patch is a significant ritual. We have to journey through the corn maze, eat nutritionally deficient but seasonal foods, ride the carriage, and at the conclusion, we must select some pumpkins to take home so we can carve them into faces to frighten young children on Halloween."

Hannah mimicked the confused look on Jack's face as the Nephilim cocked his head to one side. Both looked at Castiel for clarification as the angel glanced up from reading the list off of his phone. Castiel smiled as he noticed the two of them looking at him like confused lost birds.

"I don't understand how consuming nutritionally deficient foods is necessary for this activity, Castiel," Hannah spoke up, trying to wrap her mind around yet another strange human concept. "And wouldn't frightening the children cause a traumatic reaction?"

"I'll show you both," Castiel assured them, a soft smile spreading across his face as he took Hannah's hand and ushered her towards the ticket booth while Jack looked on.

"Three tickets please," Hannah told the ticket booth attendant. The woman glanced at the three of them, eyes lingering slightly on Jack, who seemed preoccupied with the activities going on just beyond the gate.

"How old is he?" the woman asked as Hannah handed her some cash.

"He just turned one," Castiel explained, proudly. Hannah glanced at him as he received a dumbfounded look from the woman. Now it was Castiel's turn to be confused. "Was… that not the correct answer?"

"Well… he looks a little big for his age," the women replied, glancing at Nephilim who stepped closer, trying to understand the reason of her confusion.

"Oh I grow fast," Jack insisted. "Dean said it's because I eat my wheaties."

"Right…" the woman seemed skeptical but she reluctantly handed them the tickets and moments later, they were through the gate and immersed in a labyrinth of tables and booths with vendors selling everything from food to artisan crafts. The ground beneath them was sprinkled heavily with hay and straw and just beyond the crowd of vendors was a twisted thicket of pumpkins.

People wandered around, young children bounded about in their thick jackets, laughing and socializing about. As Hannah strode through the crowd with Castiel, she had to smile to herself at the look of wonder on Jack's face as he took everything in.

"Look at this place!" Jack exclaimed enthusiastically as he walked up ahead of them. "I want to see everything, can we please see everything, Castiel?"

"Of course," Castiel replied pleasantly as walked hand in hand with Hannah. "Just don't get too far ahead of us, we don't want you to get lost." Hannah found herself feeling a little protective of the young Nephilim; her eyes watched his every move as he bounded about ahead of them, while the two of them tried to absorb the atmosphere of the pumpkin patch as well.

"Should we tell him?" Castiel asked suddenly as they walked together. Hannah glanced at him with a frown. She knew what he was talking about. She knew Jack and Claire had both been suspicious when she had spent the morning being sick.

"How do you think he will take the news?" she wanted to know, eyes darting about the area.

"Better than Claire will, I assure you," Castiel warned. Hannah sighed. The still had a few people to tell about this pregnancy. Jack, Claire, the Winchesters. Castiel assured Hannah he would take care of the Winchesters himself, which left only Jack and Claire to worry about.

Hannah did not doubt that Claire would react negatively. The girl had made it clear she was opposed to Hannah having anything to do with Castiel. Hannah had tried her best to stay out of the girl's way, to let Castiel take care of caring for her, but Claire was determined to drive Hannah away, and this would solidify her relationship with the only father Claire had.

"We'll tell him today," Hannah replied just as Jack rushed over to them with a big grin on his face.

"I'd like my face painted," he declared, pointing to a booth where a line of children had formed in front of a woman who was busy painting their faces. Castiel dug out a few dollars and handed them to the Nephilim who took them eagerly and hurried to join the line. He was easily the oldest looking child in line, and a few of them gave him some quizzical glances. Hannah frowned as she and Castiel stood nearby to watch. Human children had a hard time figuring Jack out. He was a conundrum. A one-year-old who should still be wearing diapers, but with the body of a teenager and the intellectual capacity of the angelic being that he was.

As they waited, Hannah happened to glance towards a small popcorn stand and caught sight of something else out of place. There, standing beside the wooden building, stood a young child. Children abounded about her, so it wasn't her presence so much as her appearance. And the way she stared at Hannah, her blue eyes unblinking as if trying to pierce through the angel's very soul- that is, if the angel had a soul.

The girl seemed to be about five, her dark brown hair woven into large, thick ringlets and pulled back with a bonnet. Her thick red wool dress looked out of style compared to the other humans around her. If Hannah knew anything about human history, she might have placed this girl's clothes and hairstyle as being from some time in the late 17th century.

"I suppose Jack isn't the only one who is out of place here," Hannah murmured to herself, not taking her eyes off the girl. "She looks out of place as well."

"Who?" Castiel's voice cut through Hannah's interest in the girl and the angel turned to look at his deep blue eyes. Those eyes… they were similar to… Hannah glanced back only to find that the girl was gone. She squinted in confusion.

"Nothing," Hannah said quickly. "It was my imagination, I suppose." Castiel regarded her with concern but was distracted when Jack returned at that moment, beaming ear to ear as he donned a large red dragon painted on the side of his face.

"Quite fierce," Castiel commented. "Come on Jack, let's get something to eat, Hannah and I have something to share with you."

"What shall we eat?" Jack wondered, glancing at all the food vendors. He narrowed in on a booth selling cotton candy, sugar cookies, and hot cocoa. "Could we have that?"

Moments later, the three of them sat on a picnic table, and Jack happily nibbled on his tray piled high of various types of cookies. Hannah had to smile as she watched the Nephilim eat his way through his lunch of sugar and dough.

"I am uncertain if Nephilim requires the same nutritional needs as humans," Castiel said. "So you must eat a healthy dinner tonight to compensate for this."

Hannah took a breath as the moment approached. "Jack there is something we need to tell you," she began carefully. The Nephilim looked up from his meal with alarm as he studied both of their faces, noting the seriousness in their expressions.

"What is it?" he wondered. "Is everything alright? Is someone ill?"

"No one is ill," Castiel began. "But it seems that Hannah and I will be expecting a baby."

Jack blinked, puzzled as he received the news. He squinted at them both. "Expecting one?" he wanted to know. "Is it being delivered by mail? I'm… not sure I understand."

"No," Hannah explained, glancing at Castiel as she realized the Nephilim had no idea what they were talking about. Hannah could see how this conversation was going to take a turn for awkward and she wasn't sure she understood what they had just walked into.

Castiel cleared his throat, considering his next words. "Jack, er… Hannah is having the baby. It's inside of her. Like you were inside of your mother at one point. Do you understand?"

Jack's gaze shifted to Hannah, his eyes scanning her as if trying to discern where exactly the baby might be. Hannah frowned as she realized what the Nephilim's next question would be. "I remember being inside my mother," He admitted. "But I don't quite know how I got there. How did you get the baby inside of you, Hannah? Was it sex? Because some kids at school have suggested that-"

"Uh, perhaps we will answer that question a little later," Hannah stammered quickly, blushing bright red as she glanced at Castiel for help. "But the baby is growing inside of me, according to the doctor, it will be born sometime in May or June."

"I will be the baby's brother? Like Sam and Dean?" Jack asked a hopeful note in the tone of his voice.

Hannah nodded, relief flooding through her as Jack seemed excited about the news. "Yes," she said. "You and Claire will be the baby's older siblings."

Jack frowned. "Claire will not be happy," he pointed out. "I don't think she will like hearing about this."

"There are a few people we still have to tell, so you have to keep this to yourself for a while," Castiel explained. "Don't tell anyone."

The Nephilim nodded. Hannah smiled, daring to allow herself to feel excitement for the first time over this pregnancy. She dared to hope that this was something she could look forward to, that she could be happy about. In the back of her mind she worried about the possibilities, would she even be able to survive, would heaven approve, what would Michael do? So many concerns still haunted her thoughts. But for now, she was happy. She never thought she could be satisfied living on Earth. It was the last place she ever wanted to be before she met Castiel. She never knew there could be happiness outside of heaven, but here she was with a family, with friends, with a life, people who cared about her. Maybe this was what humans treasured so much.

They spent the rest of the day enjoying the pumpkin patch before Jack selected a number of pumpkins to take home and carve. As Castiel lugged an armful of pumpkins to the car, Jack talking excitedly about having a baby brother or sister, about how he was going to carve pumpkins, about how he had been learning things at school, Hannah thought surely this was bliss.

If only it could stay that way.


	4. Chapter 4

  
While Castiel and Hannah dealt with their household, Jo Harvelle found herself waking up one morning and rolling over in bed to find herself meeting the beautiful green orbs of Dean Winchester as he lay watching her, a small smirk on his face.   
  
“Morning sunshine,” Jo whispered with a smile. “How long have you been laying there staring at the back of my head?”   
  
“Just long enough to think about what a lucky son of a bitch I am,” Dean responded as Jo scooted over into his arms. “To be waking up every morning to this gorgeous blonde in my bed.”   
  
“I bet you say that to all the girls,” Jo teased. She was only half joking as she knew Dean Winchester had enjoyed the carnal activities that came with being an unattached hunter- that is until now. She couldn’t deny her sordid past either, especially the years she hadn’t been able to talk about yet- all the years in which she was supposed to be dead.   
  
She didn’t know how long Dean would buy the ‘just woke up in a field somewhere’ story, but she was happy to stall on having to revisit the last nine years since she and her mother had both died in the explosion that took out the hellhounds hunting the Winchesters.   
  
She never knew how or why she had come back- only that she had and her mother had not. The standard ‘guess it didn’t take’ answer had satisfied Dean when he asked, the first time he saw her standing there in the doorway of some dingy motel, the first time they had laid eyes on each other in almost ten years. At least, he seemed satisfied, but she knew he still had questions, even now, after the past few months they had been together. The distant suspicion, the lack of trust had been a nagging cornerstone of the precarious relationship they had begun.   
  
She wasn’t the only one who had returned from the dead. Eileen, Hannah, and now Gabriel all seemed to turn up around the same time, and no hunter would dare believe it was just a coincidence.   
  
She was interrupted from her thoughts by Dean’s hand slipping through her hair, down her cheek to rest against her neck. She breathed in his warmth as she moved happily into a kiss. “Hmm…” she hummed against his lips. “Do you think that will get you into my good graces?” she teased.   
  
Dean responded by letting his hand slip further down her soft skin, disappearing under the blankets to explore the more sensitive parts. Jo breathed in as her body tingled in response to his touch. “How am I doing?” he wanted to know, smiling as he gazed down into her face.   
  
“You better be prepared to go all the way, Dean Winchester,” she warned as she moved her hips into his touch. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”   
  
Dean only grinned and maneuvered his way onto her, kissing her neck before whispering against her skin, his breath causing ripples of sensation on her skin. “I always keep my promises,” he murmured.   
  
Jo closed her eyes, savoring the sensations as she arched herself into him, the feeling of his weight on her, as he entered her slowly was electrifying. She bucked her hips, encouraging him to pick up speed as she felt the built up of pleasure inside of her. She moaned as he caressed her, his lips pressing against her neck as he moved at a steady pace.   
  
“Dean…” she breathed as she let herself reach a climax, the waves of pleasure rolling through her like waves. She felt him clench down as he allowed himself to feel the pleasure of release at the same time.   
  
“Damn you’re good at that,” she breathed as he rolled off of her, pulling her into his arms.   
  
“Hey, it’s a great way to start the day,” he replied nonchalantly as they both eventually rolled out of bed and got dressed.   
  
As Jo got out of bed and washed up, putting on her jeans, black tank top, and black and orange flannel, pulling her blonde hair into a ponytail, she realized she was famished. “Must have worked up an appetite,” she commented as her stomach growled for attention.   
  
“Hey, you okay?” Dean was looking at her from across the room as he finished buttoning up his blue plaid flannel. She glanced at him, shrugging.   
  
“What do you mean?” she asked.   
  
“You look a little pale,” he commented. “A lot pale, actually.” Jo glanced in the mirror of their oak vanity and frowned. She noted her pallid complexion reflected in the mirror.   
  
“I feel fine,” she said. “Just hungry.”   
  
Hungry was an understatement. Jo managed to convince Dean that they should all go to the local breakfast diner.   
  
Jo’s mouth salivated as the server brought her a plate full of blood sausage. “Oh this looks delicious,” she said as she dug in eagerly.   
  
“I didn’t even know blood sausage was your thing,” Charlie commented as she and Eileen sat across from Jo, watching her eat. “And you didn’t want eggs or anything like that?”   
  
“No this is exactly what I was craving,” Jo proclaimed as she savored the irony taste of the cooked blood sausage, finding herself wishing it was a little rawer.   
  
“Babe, you sure you’re-”   
  
“I’m fine, Dean!” Jo snapped as she shoveled blood sausage into her mouth. Dean frowned and glanced at Sam as the two watched the blonde eat.   
  
“I didn’t know you liked blood sausage so much,” Eileen said, signing with her hands as she spoke. “I have some recipes for my grandmother’s authentic Irish blood pudding.”   
  
“That would be amazing,” Jo agreed. Jo had never even had blood sausage before, but she couldn’t get over the irony taste. In fact, it was her new favorite thing, and she planned to look up more blood recipes as soon as she could.   
  
Later that day, after she dragged Dean to the bookstore and the butcher shop, she sat in the bunker’s library with Charlie, Eileen, and Hannah. “I didn’t realize there was so much you can do with blood,” she said as she poured over the cookbook she had found. She glanced across the table at the girls. “Did any of you?”   
  
“Jo,” Eileen began cautiously. “Are you sure you are okay?”   
  
Jo sighed. “Everyone keeps asking me that,” she said. She had begun to realize her behavior had been abnormal as of late. “I… don’t know,” she said honestly. “I’ve been having these strange… feelings. I can’t get enough blood. And the sun hurts.”   
  
She looked at her friends. They all looked concerned. She realized the hunters would all pick up on what she was describing and she didn’t want to face the facts. It had dawned on her a while ago what these strange symptoms could mean, and she didn’t want to bring any attention to it anymore.   
  
“Hey so Hannah, how’s the morning sickness?” she wanted to know abruptly changing the subject. Hannah blinked in confusion.   
  
“I fail to see why that is relevant to this conversation,” she said quizzically. “I admit I am still learning how to participate in this ‘short talk’ as you have referred to it.”   
  
“Small talk,” Jo corrected, sighing at Hannah’s blank expression. “Or gossip. It’s where we sit around and talk smack about everyone. It’s a skill you must learn in order to survive in human society, Hannah.”   
  
“I see,” the angel seemed to mull over this information. “I didn’t realize that mastering this skill is so imperative.”   
  
  
  
Jo could tell that she had succeeded in confusing the angel even more, but at least she had managed to get her off of her trail. Eventually, Eileen stood up and pulled at Hannah’s arm. “Come on Hannah, I need to do some job hunting, and I think it's a good opportunity for you to learn some people skills.” Eileen ushered the confused angel out of the room.   
  
Charlie got up to join them but turned back to Jo as soon as Eileen and Hannah had left the room. She came over and looked at the blonde, knowingly. “How long as this been going on?” she wanted to know.   
  
“A few weeks,” Jo said softly. “Actually… more like a few years. Since I first came back from being dead… but lately, it’s gotten worse.”   
  
“When were you bitten?” Charlie wanted to know, the tone of her voice suggested she wasn’t about to be thwarted from this subject. Jo may have been able to confuse Hannah enough, but not Charlie. The ginger was much too intuitive. She knew Eileen had probably figured it out too and knew the angel probably wouldn’t take the news well, her distaste of demons and monsters was well known.   
  
“That’s just it, Charlie, I wasn’t bitten,” she explained. “I just… came back this way. I’ve been able to suppress the symptoms, but in the last few weeks, they’ve been getting worse and worse…”   
  
“Have you told Dean?” Charlie asked. The ginger sat down in a chair and focused on Jo, the look of concern in her eyes very apparent.   
  
“No,” Jo said quickly. “How could I? He’s a hunter! I’m a hunter… he doesn’t even know I’ve been alive all this time. I can’t tell him, Charlie, please keep it a secret.”   
  
“He’s going to find out eventually, Jo,” Charlie pointed out. She sighed and reached over and took Jo’s hand. Jo was surprised by the sensation the touch caused, a tingle of electricity, of chemistry in that touch. She squeezed Charlie’s hand, looking into her eyes.   
  
“I know…” Jo murmured softly, “I’ll tell him… eventually. But in the meantime… could you uh… help me?”   
  
“Help you hide it?” Charlie shrugged. “How?”   
  
“As long as I get some blood, I can keep it in check,” Jo said, looking for understanding in Charlie’s eyes. She felt embarrassed to be asking this of her, but she had no choice. She didn’t want anyone knowing about this.   
  
“Okay,” Charlie said. “We can take care of this. We can check out the butcher shop, the blood banks, that sort of thing. Don’t worry, Jo, it’s going to be okay.”   
  
Jo sighed with relief. Charlie’s reassurances made her feel a lot better. She didn’t like having to sneak around like this, but she was a hunter. How could she face another hunter like this? How could she even look at Dean and tell him that the person he had been sleeping with these past few months was a vampire?


	5. Chapter 5

A few days later, Hannah smiled as she watched Jack eagerly scoop out the pumpkin guts of his pumpkin. Old newspaper spread out across the table as the nephilim perched precariously on his knees on a chair and went to work with the ice cream scoop.

“Make sure you retain the pumpkin seeds and parts,” Castiel instructed as the two of them watched from the couch. “Charlie wants to make a pie with it.”

“Dean likes pie,” Jack commented as his whole arm disappeared from within the depth of the pumpkin. “Am I going to have enough time to put on my costume?”

“Yes if you hurry,” Castiel responded. “Gabriel is picking you up to go trick or treating.” Hannah curled up on the couch, shivering at the chill in the air. Castiel noticed and put an arm around her, glancing at her with concern. “Are you cold, Hannah?” he asked, puzzled. Angels didn’t feel cold.

Hannah nodded, “Cold and fatigued and hungry.” She noticed Jack had stopped scooping and was looking at them with concern. “I’m fine, Jack, it’s probably nothing,” she assured him as Castiel grabbed the throw blanket off of the couch and wrapped it around her.

“Claire will be home from school soon,” Castiel told her as he tried to warm her by rubbing her shoulders and arms vigorously. “We should probably tell her.”

Hannah sighed. She was dreading this. She knew Claire wasn’t going to take this well at all. 

Jack came over to them, holding his pumpkin creation and beaming proudly. “Do you like it?” he asked hopefully.

“Yes, I am sure young children will be quite frightened of our house,” Castiel said just as Claire burst through the front door, dropping her back pack on the foot of the stairs, as she came over to look at the pumpkin.

Jack turned to Claire, beaming as he showed her the pumpkin. “What do you think, Claire,” he asked. “Uncle Gabriel is taking me trick or treating.”

Claire glanced at Castiel and Hannah. “He’s a little old to be trick or treating,” she told them. 

“Gabriel found a neighborhood that is friendly towards teenagers,” Castiel replied. “You could go with them if you wanted to.”

“Yeah right, I have more important things to do,” Claire snapped as she turned back towards the stairs. Castiel sighed and looked at Hannah.

“Claire, we need to talk to you,” Castiel began. He glanced at Jack. “Go wash up and change into your costume, Jack. Gabriel will be here soon.”

Jack could sense the tension and put his pumpkin down on the table and hurried up the stairs. Claire turned to them, crossing her arms across her chest provocatively. Hannah sat up on the couch, preparing herself for the possible onslaught.

“Claire, I know it's been hard for you to adjust to things,” Castiel began. Claire only scoffed. “But there is something we need to inform you. Hannah and I will be expecting a child. Hannah is pregnant.”

“ _ What _ !” Claire exclaimed, tears streaming out of her eyes now as she looked at both of them. “You got knocked up? How is that even possible? This isn’t fair! How come you brought her back to life but not mom? It’s not even fair!”

“Claire, I’m sorry,” Castiel began, stammering slightly as he tried to reason with the girl. Hannah stayed curled up on the couch, silently watching the exchange closely, becoming more and more agitated. “I know I’m to blame for a lot of what’s happened to you.”

“Yeah you are,” Claire shot back. “So you should let me do what I want and stay out of my hair.”

“Claire, we want this to be your home,” Castiel spoke up. “You chose to come with me because, as you said, ‘it’s better than foster care’ but you must accept certain rules. I received word from your teachers about your failure to go to class and we haven’t even been here a month.”

“What do you care? You took my dad away and now your just walking around in his body like it’s nothing! And now you just bring  _ her- _ ” Claire glared at Hannah. “Into my life. She’s not my mother. And now you are having a baby with her? Why, Castiel? Why is it that my mother died and she died, but she’s the one who gets to come back and be happy?”

“Claire-” Castiel tried to protest but to no avail. Claire only rolled her eyes and moved to turn away, but Hannah couldn’t take it anymore. 

“That is enough,” she declared, getting to her feet as the errant teen whirled to face her, fire in her eyes. “I have tolerated your hatred for me, but I will not allow you to use Castiel’s guilt against him.”

“How dare you-”

Hannah quickly cut the girl off by holding up a hand. “I never came here to be your mother. I have tried to be kind to you and I have accepted the circumstances. I have tried to be accommodating because I feel guilty for my part in my own vessel’s life, but it’s time you accept certain things. I will not allow you to continue to disrespect Castiel, nor will I allow you to continue to abuse me for my association with him.”

Claire looked completely dumbfounded, her eyes darting towards Castiel as if expecting him to back her up somehow. It was the first time Hannah really stood up to her, up until now, she had been content to leave the parenting to Castiel. Claire was his responsibility, after all, not hers. But she wasn’t going to continue to be silent every time Claire used her harsh words as weapons against Castiel, who was already to wracked with guilt that he often accepted it and allowed Claire to get away with whatever she was doing.

Hannah continued before Claire could. “If you do not want me to act like your mother, then perhaps you shouldn’t give me cause to parent you. You will go to school and get good grades or there will be consequences, is that understood?”

Claire scoffed and stormed up the stairs. Hannah waited until she heard the slam of Claire’s door before sitting back down with Castiel on the couch. She glanced at Castiel who had a anxious look on his face. “I’m sorry,” she offered to him. 

“No,” Castiel said with a sigh. “She needed to hear it but… everything that’s happened to her is my fault, I can’t get past that. I can’t get past what I’ve put her through.”

Hannah snaked a hand over to clasp his hand, causing him to look at her. “The past is the past,” she told him. “Do you think I don’t have guilt over how I ruined Caroline Johnson’s life? I’ve never talked about how I found her when I returned from the empty…”

Castiel was paying close attention to her now, it was something Hannah hadn’t opened up about until now, it was something she felt responsible for. She took a breath. “Caroline’s life after I released her didn’t go well,” she explained. “Her husband never trusted her again and abused her. She tried to tell him the truth, that she was possessed by an angel, but he didn’t believe her. Their marriage fell apart, she accepted his abuse because she felt guilty. Eventually, he left her for another and she was institutionalized for insanity. When I found her, she was roaming the streets of rural Montana, looking for food.”

Castiel sighed and squeezed her hand in both of his, resting the pile of clasped hands on his lap. “You never told me that story,” he said. “I had wondered why you went back to Caroline.”

“I felt it was the least I could do,” Hannah replied. “I released her soul to heaven. But I can never take back the damage I did to her life. I still feel guilty for it. The lives of the humans we use for our own purpose, it’s something few angels consider. Except for you and me. But Castiel, as guilty as we feel, what can we do about it now? We can only move forward.”

Castiel smiled, “thanks, Hannah,” she said. “I just… want to make things right for Claire. I want to give her everything I took away from her.”

“You are trying,” Hannah assured him. “You are giving her a house and a family. It may not be the same family or the same house, but it is security, something she didn’t have in foster care.”

Castiel met her eyes with his. “I don’t think I could do this without you,” he admitted. “I have no idea what I’m doing with Claire or with Jack. Parenting isn’t exactly in the angel’s handbook.”

Hannah only responded by leaning forward to kiss him gently on the lips. She felt his arms snake around her torso, pulling her into his arms as she kissed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in response. 

“Hey, hey, hey!” Neither of them had heard the door opened, but Gabriel’s voice brought them out of their embrace and they both turned to see Gabriel standing there with his arms crossed while Sam and Dean strolled in behind him. “Isn’t that how you got into this mess in the first place?”

“What mess?” Hannah asked quizzically, then glanced at Castiel who shrugged. Gabriel blinked, then glanced behind him at Sam and Dean. He mouthed ‘do they know?’ to Castiel, gesturing to the Winchesters. Castiel shook his head. 

“Well now’s a good time to tell them,” Gabriel replied. “Because I grabbed this from your mail, and you have a problem.” He tossed a letter at Castiel before coming to the stairs and shouted. “Hey Squirt, you ready?”

“Tell us what?” Dean asked as he and Sam both looked at the two angels curiously. Hannah looked at the letter in Castiel’s hands then at Gabriel.

“How do you know what it says?” Hannah asked Gabriel, curiously.

Gabriel pointed to the side of his head. “Scanned it with my eyeballs,” he replied just as Jack bounded down the stairs dressed as Superman, complete with red cape and a large S. Gabriel looked him up and down. “Looking sharp,” he commented. “Let’s split.”

He glanced at Castiel and Hannah as he ushered Jack towards the door. “I’ll have him home in a few,” he promised before the two hurried through the door, and were gone, leaving Dean and Sam alone with Castiel and Hannah.

“What do you need to tell us, Cas?” Dean demanded in a low, dangerous voice that clearly said he wasn’t going to be impressed. 

“Hannah is pregnant,” Castiel replied nonchalantly as he looked at the both of them. “Is there a problem with this?”

“Problem?” Dean spat back angrily as he paced back and forth in front of them, Sam quickly moving aside to avoid his brother’s angry paces. “Cas, what the hell where you two thinking?”

“We weren’t really thinking anything,” Castiel replied sarcastically. “It didn’t require much thought, would you like me to draw you a diagram?”

“No we’re good,” Sam said, holding up his hands. “Dean, calm down, let’s just think about this.”

“No I won’t calm down,” Dean snapped at Sam. “First off, let’s just ignore for the fact that angels aren’t supposed to get knocked up. There’s also Michael. Did you ever think about him? Or I don’t know, heaven? Or how about the hordes of demons who might want to take a chunk out of Cas Jr.?”

“We don’t know how it happened,” Hannah replied. “Only that perhaps my grace was compromised when I returned from the empty. It’s not something we planned for, but it happened.”

“Okay, whatever, Sister,” Dean mocked. Hannah felt her cheeks flush with anger at that as Dean waved her away and focused his barrage at Castiel. Hannah knew she had never been on good terms with the Winchesters. Sam seemed understanding, but Dean was cautious about her relationship with Castiel, almost like an overprotective big brother. They had had some negative, if brief, encounters in the past, but Hannah had accepted that they were part of Castiel’s life. She still tended to butt heads with Dean quite often, especially on everything concerning Castiel.

“I will not be dismissed in this manner,” she warned angrily. “Castiel and I are going to have this child and you will learn to accept it.”

“Dean,” Sam’s stern warning finally got through to Dean and he sighed, defeated. 

“Look, I’m just concerned,” he said. “I mean you two don’t know any angels who have conceived a child, you don’t know what the consequences may be. I mean it won’t be another Jack, but who knows what it will be.”

“Don’t you think we’ve already been concerned about that?” Castiel asked as he absentmindedly opened the letter Gabriel had given him.

A silent pause descended the room as Castiel took out the document and began reading it. As Hannah watched closely, his expression went from defense to concern. “What is it, Castiel?” she murmured.

“I am being summoned to court,” Castiel said. “Over custody of Jack Kline by Nick Satana, his biological father.”

“What… no, he’s dead…” Sam murmured and everyone turned their attention to him. When he noticed, he cleared his throat. “Satana is Italian for Satan. That’s Lucifer…”

Hannah swallowed as a wave of fear washed over her and dropped into the pit of her stomach. 

“No, I killed him,” Dean said. “Michael killed him. Cas?”

“There are… ways in which he could come back,” Castiel replied slowly, his hands trembling slightly. “With the empty as unstable as it is… we must accept the possibility that Lucifer may be alive.”


	6. Chapter 6

Claire lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She felt so alone. How could she possibly think she could fit in here? She was so out of place. She regretted ever hearing about angels. She hated angels. This was all their fault. Her family fell apart, her parents died and she was abandoned, all because of angels. And everyone thought they were so great if they only knew the truth.

She resented Castiel, how could she even bear to look at him? He looked like her father, but he wasn’t. There was no way she could get past that. And she couldn’t accept Hannah, there was no way. Somewhere, deep down, she regretted her actions, she knew that Castiel and Hannah really were trying to give her something that had been taken from her, but she couldn’t let them. It could never be the same. It would always seem fake, an illusion. 

Maybe there was only one life for her. Which is why she found herself crossing to her closet grabbing a duffel bag, and filling it with some clothes and supplies. She gathered any loose change she could find and made sure to grab the dagger she always kept under her pillow. Opening her window and carefully and quietly climbing out onto the roof of the large home, she had to tiptoe to the edge and after careful maneuvering, dropped to the ground below.

A full moon hung above her as Claire started along the path through the woods towards town. The town was a good 30 minutes by foot along the narrow dirt hiking trail which winded through the thickest part of the forest. As Claire slung the duffle bag over her shoulder, she began to become well aware of how quiet and foreboding the forest was. 

She slipped a hand into her pocket and pulled out her dagger. It was a decent sized knife, she had kept it around ever since she learned that monsters were real. When an angel took over her father’s body and a demon took over her mother. The experience had left her shattered, her whole world, her sense of security and safety had been instantly shattered.

The crickets chirped and the owls hooted. The eeriness of the moon lit path was starting to settle on her. She began to question the wisdom of coming out here at night all alone without a plan. 

As she walked up the path, she suddenly became aware of a struggle off in the forest. The rustle of leaves, twigs snapping, a few grunts. Claire stopped in her tracks, training her ear up to listen. It’s Halloween she reminded herself, wondering if she had stumbled upon some troublemakers. Maybe some teenagers out for a good time. That sounded appealing.

Or, it could be some serial killer, she told herself. Or a werewolf or a vampires since she was aware of the existence of those creatures now.

“Hello?” the rustling stopped at her call. Then, she swallowed as she heard something come towards her. She put up her knife, ready as she faced what might be causing the bushes to rustle.

Before her eyes appeared a young girl about her age, her dark eyes wide with fear as she stepped out onto Claire’s path. 

“Run,” was all she told Claire before grabbing her arm. Claire barely had time to react to that command before the object of the woman’s fears bounded out of the woods in front of them. A large dark, wiley haired wolf with glowing yellow eyes and dripping fangs snarling hungrily at them.

“Werewolf,” Claire mumbled to herself as she took off with the dark haired girl. 

Running side by side with this complete stranger, Claire ran and ran through the forest. She had no idea where she was going, but the wolf was hot on their trail, so she ran. A few times, she could feel it’s breath as it chased, howling menacingly.

Her side ached and Claire didn’t know how long she could keep this up. She had no idea how deep into the forest they were, when suddenly the girl shouted. “There!” She pointed as they came out into a clearing lit up dimly by moonlight. There, nestled in the trees was a tiny cabin. Without hesitating, the two girls burst through the front door, not even bothering to worry about who might be home.

They slammed the door hard, locking the wolf out. They heard it’s body slam hard against the door. Panting for air and turning to take note of her surroundings as all that could be heard, besides the wolf’s frantic scrambling and the labored gasping of their own breath, was silence. And very little light penetrated the stale air. Claire coughed as dust, kicked up by their entrance, choked her airways.

“I don’t think it can get in,” Claire said. At least she hoped. They both stood there listening with baited breath as the werewolf scratched around outside, no doubt looking for ways in. Eventually, the world fell quiet and Claire could hear the creature hurrying back into the forest, the leaves crunching as it ran. Its howls sounded further and further away.

Claire turned her attention to their surroundings. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny keychain flashlight. It wasn’t much but it shed a little light on their surroundings. She turned it at first towards the young woman she was with. “I’m Claire by the way,” she said calmly although her heart was still pounding with adrenaline. “What were you doing in the forest?”

“Kaia,” the teenager said. She had dark wavy hair and dark eyes, she wore a pair of jeans and a grey hoodie and a worn pair of sneakers. “What was that thing? Do you think it’s gone?”

“A werewolf,” Claire explained. “And probably not. We might have to stay here till sunrise. It’ll turn into its human form once the sun comes up.”

Claire couldn’t actually see but she could feel Kaia’s eyes boring into her from behind. No doubt wondering if she was crazy. But for now, she didn’t really have the time to convince her. She turned her attention to the house they were in. By the stale smell and the dead silence, she could sense that the house was old. How old she couldn’t quite discern.

A thousand things could be in the house with them. But there was no way to tell without any light. Wild animals, squatters, ghosts. Of those, Claire only knew how to protect against the ghosts. “Come on,” she said. “Stay close okay? I won’t let anything happen. We need to get to the kitchen and see if they have any salt.”

“Salt?” Kaia repeated as Claire moved slowly and cautiously into the house, holding her pocket knife in one hand and the tiny flashlight in the other, listening on alert for any slight noise. She felt Kaia grab onto her jacket, latching on as she followed close behind, her breath ghosting across the back of Claire’s neck.

“Yeah come on,” Claire said, walking in front of her protectively. She swallowed hard, sweat forming along her hairline as her heart pounded out of her chest. She was determined that she was going to make sure she and Kaia made it through the night. And then? She didn’t know. She felt torn. She knew she had been trying to run away, to get as far away from Castiel and Hannah and their happy little family but now, lost in some forest where she couldn’t even see three inches in front of here, where she wasn’t sure what horrors were watching her at this very moment, she had the urge to go running to Castiel, curl up in his arms, and cry like a baby, despite the fact that he wasn’t really her father. But now, in her fear, that distinction that she had clung to, which fueled her anger and resentment was becoming blurred. 

But now wasn’t the time to give in to her fears. She didn’t know Kaia but Kaia depended on her. She didn’t know about the things that Claire knew about. She was a ‘civilian’ in a way. And Claire knew more than she was meant to. Her innocence was shattered long ago. She had to get them both through this alive somehow.

They just had to make it till morning. 

Sssssssssssssssssss

It didn’t take long for Castiel to notice that Claire was missing. Later in the night, after Dean and Sam had gone home, Gabriel brought Jack back. The young nephilim was bounding with energy, his bucket was overflowing with candy which Castiel insisted he confiscated.

“It will make you sick if you eat it all at once,” he explained as Jack watched him put the bucket into the kitchen pantry. “And I think I should inspect each piece first before you consume it.”

“What for?” Jack wanted to know as he frowned with disappointment as Castiel closed the pantry door. 

“Sometimes humans have ulterior motives,” Castiel explained, turning to face Jack. The Nephilim stood there wearing his superman costume. “It's unfortunate, but we have to determine that the candy is safe for you to consume. Come on Jack, you must go and get ready for bed.”

Castiel ushered Jack back into the main living area where Hannah and Gabriel were conversing. Hannah smiled at Jack as she sat propped up on the couch, huddling under a blanket. “Did you enjoy yourself?” she asked the nephilim.

Jack grinned ear to ear, nodding his head eagerly. “Uncle Gabriel took me to a haunted house!” he exclaimed. “It was frightening but exciting. And then we went trick or treating and did you see how much candy I got?”

Hannah nodded her confirmation and Castiel gently nudged Jack towards the stairs until he got the hint and hurried up to bed. After the excited furry that was Jack had gone, Castiel moved to settle down on the couch beside Hannah before glancing across ad Gabriel who had settled into the chair.

“So what are you going to do about this Lucifer thing?” Gabriel asked, a seriousness falling onto the room. 

“I’m not sure,” Castiel said. “I don’t quite understand what this whole court thing means. I am still trying to sort through everything with Claire. It’s very confusing.”

“Yeah humans make things way more complicated than it needs to be,” Gabriel said rolling his eyes. “And if it is Lucifer, which I’m not all that convinced it is, then he may have found a way to use this to his advantage. You adopted Jack, didn’t you?”

Castiel frowned, shaking his head as Hannah cuddled against him for warmth, laying her head on his shoulder as she listened. “I didn’t know that is necessary.”

“Alright I’ve been moseying around on this lump of rock for a long time,” Gabriel replied. “And if there’s one thing I’ve learned is that Human laws can be very hard to defeat. Lucifer is Jack’s biological father which means he can win custody of him. It means that the courts would force you to give Jack to him. And because you haven’t adopted him, it will be even easier for Lucifer to do that.”

“I’ll simply refuse to give him up,” Castiel stated defiantly. No one was going to take Jack away. “I am an angel, he cannot defy me nor can any of his human allies.”

“Uh yeah you could do that,” Gabriel said. “But I don’t think I need to remind you that Lucifer is more powerful than you and even me. Besides, if you defy them these humans can make life here a living hell. You’d be a fugitive. Your face will be all over TV, millions and millions of people will know who you are, these humans you are so fond of? You’d never be able to live among them again and anyone associated with you, Sam, Dean, would be accessories since I’m sure they’d be dumb enough to help you.”

Castiel frowned as he absorbed all of that. He certainly didn’t want to have that sort of trouble on his shoulders. He was already afraid of these authorities with regards to Claire. And he hated the idea of putting his family through that ordeal. 

“What can we do?” Hannah asked as Castiel sorted out his thoughts. “We are already afraid of these humans trying to take Claire.”

“In Claire’s case, you have it easier,” Gabriel said. “Castiel is technically her biological father, thanks to Jimmy Novak. So as long as you take care of her and make sure she stays out of trouble, they won’t take her from you. But Jack has no biological ties to anyone here which makes him vulnerable.”

“Vulnerable to what?” Jack’s sudden voice had everyone whirling towards the foot of the stairs where he was suddenly standing, staring at them all with confusion. Castiel swallowed. He wasn’t quite ready to tell Jack any of this, and he wasn’t sure how much the nephilim had overheard.

“Jack I told you to go get ready for bed,” Castiel said firmly, hoping his commands would throw the boy off. But Jack held his ground.

“But Claire isn’t in her room,” Jack replied. “I knocked to ask her something and her door was cracked… she isn’t in there.”

Castiel felt his heart drop to his stomach as he was on his feet in moments, Hannah and Gabriel hot on his tail as they all surged up the stairs to the room Claire had claimed as her own. It was indeed empty and as Castiel pushed the door aside. Castiel’s eyes darted around the room frantically even though he knew he wasn’t likely to turn up anything.

“Castiel,” Hannah hurried in behind him and went straight to the open window. The white curtains rustled about in the breeze ominously as the dark night loomed beyond it. Dread settled in Castiel’s very core as he stared at the window, as if momentarily frozen.

“Come on,” Gabriel clasping him on the shoulder brought him back to attention and he turned his wide eyes towards the archangel. “We need to look for her,” he continued. “I’ll take Jack to the bunker and bring back the Winchesters. Come on Castiel, keep it together.”

Castiel blinked, nodding as he followed Gabriel back down the stairs, his family following close behind.

“I want to help find her,” Jack protested as they all gathered at the door. “Please, Castiel. I can be useful.”

“No, Jack,” Castiel shook his head. “I know you can help but I can’t risk you getting lost too. Go with Gabriel, please.”

Jack tried to protest but Castiel’s mind was made up. He knew Jack was always ready to go on a hunt, to be like the Winchesters, but without his powers, he was just a normal teenage human boy. He had the intellectual capacity of the cosmic being that he was, but physically, he was just a boy. Vulnerable and with any number of enemies already on his young shoulders, Michael being one of them. Without knowing where the archangel was, there was no way Castiel could justify taking risks with Jack.

Gabriel ushered Jack off into the night and Castiel was left with Hannah. He turned to her now, the fear he felt evident in his eyes.

“You should have gone with Gabriel,” Castiel suggested. But Hannah only shook her head.

“It’s my fault she’s run off,” Hannah countered as she stood in the doorway with him, hugging herself and shivering slightly in the cold. “After what I said to her. I have to help.”

Castiel sighed, casting a worrying glance outside. All that met him beyond the dimmly lit front porch was a wall of impenetrable darkness. A darkness that Claire was now out lost in. He could only hope she had managed to make it to town, but he feared the worse. There was a reason why Men of Letters bunkers were located in rural areas, they were very hard to find. This forest was very easy to get lost in if one went off the path too far.

Claire was a troubled kid, but she was his kid. Perhaps there was still a miniscule trace of Jimmy left in him, but he felt a bond for her, despite the hardships he’d encountered with her. Hardships that were all his fault, he silently reminded himself. Perhaps if he hadn’t ruined her life in such a profound and traumatic way, she wouldn’t be so troubled. It was all his fault. 

“I just… need her to be okay,” he said softly, looking at Hannah, meeting her eyes with his own. 

“I know,” Hannah said. “Me too.”


	7. Chapter 7

When Eileen woke up, she expected to be in her bed but she wasn’t. She was laying on a bed of moss in the middle of the forest, her body draped over a fallen log, covered in leaves. She blinked in confusion, not understanding what was going on. 

“Hello?” her voice was a little hoarse, though of course, she couldn’t hear it, she could feel the gravely feeling in her throat though. She noticed that she was completely naked, though. She tried to think about what had happened the night before. She was walking home through the path in the forest. She, Jo, Hannah, and Charlie often carpooled to work together and Eileen had been tired that evening, not really feeling well, so she had opted to walk home, rather than wait for Jo to finish her bartending shift.

And she remembered not feeling well. She had left work early because she felt anxious and she just couldn’t seem to calm down. She had been feeling on edge for awhile now and her thoughts dwelled on Sam. Everything he did seemed to annoy her. She didn’t know why.

But now, here she was in the middle of the forest with no memory of how she got there. Or how she ended up naked. In this tempurature, she was lucky she hadn’t frozen. Slowly, she got to her feet and started walking through the forest, shivering as she walked.

**

It didn’t take long for Sam to realize Eileen was missing and the search for Claire had become a search for Eileen as well. Splitting up, Sam agreed to partner up with Gabriel while Dean and Jo went to check town and Castiel and Hannah went a different direction in the forest.

“It’s not like Eileen to let someone know if she is in trouble,” Sam said with concern as he trampled through the forest. They’d spent hours and dawn wasn’t far away. It was very cold that night and Sam worried that Eileen could be suffering out here in the elements. 

“She’s a hunter, she knows how to survive,” Gabriel assured him as the two walked. Sam tried to stay alert. He held his handgun in one hand, ready to use it if necessary, not knowing what they might come across.

The eerieness of this forest wasn’t lost on Sam. Leave it to the men of letters to find the most forboding locations for their bunkers. As a hunter, Sam couldn’t begin to imagine what could be lurking in this dense forest. 

Trying to keep his mind off of the possibilities, Sam glanced at Gabriel. The archangel had settled in with them for a while now. He seemed to split his time between residing at the bunker with them or at the house with Castiel and Hannah. “So uh, we thought you were dead, Gabriel,” he began as he thought about past events. “Again.” He figured he should have known that Gabriel would have managed to elude them all once again, but feeling bad about Gabriel’s alleged demise was taking it’s toll.

This time, seeing Michael stab Gabriel so cold bloodedly back in the apocoplypse world had hurt more than Sam would like to admit. Especially after having seen how much Gabriel had suffered from being held captive by Asmodeus.

“Yeah well I had to have some me time,” Gabriel explained. “I knew you chuckleheads wouldn’t give me some space so I had to get away for awhile.”

Sam sighed. He knew Gabriel felt the pressure over what was happening in heaven and how the angels were going extinct. And being the only archangel alive that wasn’t bent on destruction, there was even more pressure on him. “Well… you went back to Loki? I thought he sold you Asmodeus.”

“Yeah, well, I’d rather not talk about that,” Gabriel replied. “Besides, Loki and I are over for good this time.”

Sam wasn’t quite convinced. He knew there was something going on with Gabriel but he turned his attention back to looking for Eileen. He thought about how he and Eileen had gotten together. It hadn’t been that long, not long after they had returned from the apocalypse world, these three blasts from the past; Hannah, Jo Harvelle, and Eileen Leahy, all seemed to come back into their lives at around the same time. Sam hadn’t quite trusted the coincidence and suspected something sinister behind their resurrection, but in the lack of any compelling theory, he had put that aside back then.

But for whatever the reason, Eileen was back. At first the two were happy to rekindle their friendship which had been cut short with her murder before. But as Eileen began to live in the bunker, hunting regularly, it wasn’t long before she and Sam had entered into something more. For once in his life, his entire life, Sam was beginning to feel like things were finally looking up.

Things were still bleak. Michael’s reign of terror still loomed, Lucifer may still be alive, the angels were still going extinct, hell had no leader, but for the first time in a long time, Sam, Dean, and Castiel had something resembling normalcy. At least normal for them. They were in relationships with fellow hunters, well-trained hunters who knew well the life, and they had family. They had a hunting team. They had others to share the burden.

And of course, there was this move. After discovering this secondary bunker, Dean had left the Kansas bunker in the care of the apocalypse world refugees and moved them all to Maine with little warning. The forest offered better protection than the open prairie and now, as it became likely that other MoL bunkers would be discovered, they were beginning to have a vast network of stationary hunters. It was beginning to change the way hunters lived. No longer did they have to abandon family to become nomads, unless by choice. They now had options. And they continued to fly under the radar of any mainstream government authority.

That is what the main purpose of Castiel’s house was. Protection against the authorities impeding on the hunters doing their job. Now, with Castiel having potential custody problems with Claire, he had to stay ‘on the radar’ and the house provided a sense of a home life which would be able to throw any government agency’s scent off of Castiel’s real work.

“Hey,” they had been walking through the forest all night and, just as the sun was coming up, Gabriel’s voice roused Sam from his thoughts. The archangel crouched over what appeared to be a pile of fabric. 

Sam’s heart sunk to the bottom of his chest when he saw what the fabric was. Eileen’s library work uniform. Torn into shreds. The black slacks and maroon polo shirt were easily identifiable despite the condition the clothes were in. As Sam crouched beside Gabriel and examined the clothes, he felt a familiar knot in his throat.

“There’s no blood,” Gabriel pointed out, glancing at Sam. Sam clenched his jaw, his gaze fixed on the clothes as he held the fabric in his hands. 

“Yeah,” he said, fear in his voice. This couldn’t be right. He couldn’t accept the potential irony of what this could mean. Had something happened to Eileen? Again? Could this fleeting happiness in his life suddenly come crashing down?

“Sam!” Sam was on his feet in seconds at the sudden sound of his name. He and Gabriel both searched their surrounding for the source, as Sam recognized that voice anywhere.

“Eileen!” he shouted though he berating himself inwardly as he remembered she wouldn’t be able to hear him.

In the early morning light, the misty fog permeated the forest floor as piles of leaves gathered around them. It was now the end of October and the beginning of November and in mid-autumn, the forest was nearly done shedding its leaves. At least the trees that did that, the forest was a mix of birch, oak, maple, pine, spruce, and fur.

As Sam watched, Eileen’s shaking, shivering nude form came into view as she staggered towards them, hugging her arms close to her body. Sam and Gabriel rushed to her and Sam quickly took off his coat and drapped it around her.

“Thank god,” Sam murmured. “What happened?” he met her eyes, signing to her with his hands as Gabriel draped his jacket over her as well and rubbed her shoulders for warmth.

“Don’t know,” Eileen mumbled, her body trembling. “Just woke up out here.” Her skin was ice cold to touch and droplets of moisture from the morning dew sprinkled her hair.

“We better get her back to the bunker,” Gabriel suggested and Sam nodded, swiftly pulling Eileen up into his arms, holding her close. 

“Hey you wouldn’t have happened to see Claire out here, would you?” Gabriel asked as Eileen put her head against Sam’s shoulder. Eileen shook her head.

“Why?”

“Claire tried to run away,” Sam explained as he walked with her, he and Gabriel heading back for the bunker. “Cas and Hannah are out there looking for her right now.”

“Hope she’s okay,” Eileen said as Sam carried her. None of this made sense. He tried to search for any kind of meaning as he and Gabriel urgently trampled through the forest. Eileen was missing all night only to be found, seemingly unhurt, but naked out in the forest. Her clothing was shredded as if it had been torn about in some kind of rage. 

“We’ll figure it out when we get her home and warm, Sam,” Gabriel assured him. Sam was grateful for Gabriel’s presence.

The trio made it back to the bunker. They found Charlie happily entertaining Jack in Dean’s man cave. After Sam put Eileen in bed, tucking her under the blankets, Gabriel hurried to the kitchen to make her some warm tea while Sam went to speak to the duo.

“Any news on Claire or Eileen?” Charlie wanted to know as she gazed up from where she and Jack were settled on the couch. Charlie was relaxing, her feet on resting on the ottoman in front of her while Jack lay sleeping, his head in his lap and a blanket draped over him.

“We found Eileen,” Sam replied, standing in the doorway, glancing at the television to see the ending credits of the first Hobbit movie filtering through. “No word about Claire, yet.” He gazed over the sleeping Nephilim. “How’s he been?”

“He’s worried,” Charlie replied. “I had a little trouble distracting him at first. He wanted to contribute to the search but I managed to get him to watch a movie with me. I really hope they find her, Sam.”

“Yeah,” Sam replied. “Me too.” He came out into the hall just as Gabriel was giving Eileen her tea. He came into her room and kissed her on the head.

“I’ll be okay,” Eileen assured him, though he could tell she was scared. “Just need to warm up and get some sleep.”

Sam nodded, making sure he was comfortable before joining Gabriel in the main area of the bunker. Sam sat across the table from Gabriel and tried to relax, though he sensed the awkwardness between them.

“Asmodeus was a Kentucky fried douchebag, okay?” Gabriel suddenly blurted out. Sam frowned and glanced across the table at him.

“Uh yeah, he definitely was,” he agreed hesitantly, focusing on the archangel as Gabriel drummed his fingers on the surface of the table with irritation. Apparently not satisfied with Sam’s puzzled response, he got up and started pacing in front of the table, running a hand through his hair.

“Yeah you know he used to inject himself with my mojo just to get high?” Gabriel mumbled as Sam watching him grow more and more anxious. “Ever wonder what it feels like for an angel to get harvested like some kind of cow? It ain’t fun, let me tell you. And then he would pluck feathers out of my wings like a god damn parakeet.”

Sam sympathized with the trickster. He got to his feet and moved to stand in front of him, grabbing his shoulders gently to halt his pacing. “Yeah I know,” he said. “I mean I was never a guest of Asmodeus but I was locked in a cage with your older brothers.”

“Yeah, I know Sammwich,” Gabriel said with a sigh. “My big bros are all dicks. But you know, when I finally get out of that mess, I find you all trying to drag me back into heaven’s royal screw up. When all I wanted to do was go back to Monte Carlo. Although this time around, I was considering Vegas. Or maybe Dubai. But no. That jackass Loki tracks me down like some stalker.”

“Why’d you take him back?” Sam wanted to know. Gabriel just shrugged. 

“You know tricksters are damned charming,” Gabriel offered. He winked at Sam a little teasingly. “After all, who doesn’t want a little of this?”

Sam blushed a little and shrugged. “Yeah, of course,” he said. “Look I get it, Gabriel. I get needing to take a step back sometimes. But I guess I just want to know how long you plan on sticking around this time.”

Gabriel looked him over, seemingly pondering his words. Sam thought he saw something fleeting in the archangel’s eyes. A longing, perhaps. He just shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “I guess I need a reason to stick around.”

Sam stepped closer to Gabriel, a flush of heat in his cheeks as he felt his pulse quicken a little. There was certainly a… feeling he was beginning to feel, but he wasn’t about to reveal it. After all, he had Eileen. “Well you have Cas and Hannah,” he began. “And Jack. That kid likes hanging out with you. You have uncle potential there. And, well… I’d like it if you stayed.”

Gabriel was silent for a moment. “Don’t think your girl would approve of those thoughts Sammwich.”

“You could ask her,” came Eileen’s sudden voice. Sam glanced over to see Eileen standing in the hallway, wrapped in a robe, sipping the tea Gabriel had made her.

“Eileen, you should be resting,” Sam told her, signing as he spoke. “You could have hypothermia.”

“Gabriel could heal me,” she suggested, raising a brow. Sam frowned, moving over to her. He noted that she was perspiring a little, her breath a little labored. A flush in her skin was a little confusing to Sam. “Besides, I feel fine. The tea did the trick. In fact, I feel pretty good.”

Sam turned a puzzled look towards Gabriel who quickly held his hands up. “Didn’t spike the tea,” the trickster assured him. “Did you hit your head or something?”

“No,” Eileen assured him, her breath quickened a little. Sam was concerned. Eileen certainly wasn’t acting like herself. She seemed anxious as she seemed to push the issue. “What are you two afraid of a woman expressing her sexuality?”

“Well,” Sam said. “It’s just you don’t really seem well. We’re not going to take advantage of you. I mean we just found you out in the forest, naked. With no memory of anything.”

“Well someone had better,” Eileen demanded hotly. “And who cares about that right now. I’m alive, that’s what matters.”

To prove her point, Eileen sauntered over to Sam, a sexy sway in her step as she suavely slid her cup towards the table and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, yanking him down for a sensual, forceful, almost demanding kiss.

Sam did not react well to that. “Okay, that’s it,” he said, forcing himself away. “Something’s wrong with you, Eileen. Gabriel and I are taking you to the emergency room.” He wasn’t taking no for an answer. He picked her up and carried her out to the garage, Gabriel following closely after him.

  
  



	8. Chapter 8

Castiel and Hannah had searched endlessly through the forest. The sun had come up by now, and Hannah worried that Claire was never going to be found. “How far do you think she could have gotten?” she asked as she and Castiel trudged through the thick fall foliage, brushing aside pine needle branches in their path.   
  
  
  
“I’m not sure,” Castiel said, glancing at her as he moved a branch aside, scanning the copses for any signs of life. There were few. Most birds had flown south for the winter. There were sparrows, finches, Hannah could hear the echoing sound of a woodpecker hammering away at a tree trunk. And of course, squirrels and chipmunks scurried about the forest, running up and down the tree trunks frantically.   
  
  
  
A few times, Hannah had caught sight of a few doe deer, and once, the image of a majestic stag, watching them from a far off ledge, maintaining a silent vigil over the land around him, his antlers blending in with the bare trees. He was almost a spirit of an animal, and Hannah felt as though he was still watching over them even if they had long since passed where they had last seen him.   
  
  
  
“I don’t know how long she had been gone before Jack noticed,” Castiel continued. “But if she made it to town, she could have caught a bus somewhere. But these forests are thick. I have heard locals comment that people get lost in them all the time. Some are never heard from again.”   
  
  
  
Hannah noted the fear in Castiel’s voice. The thought that he could have lost his daughter to this forest was unsettling. And Hannah couldn’t help but feel guilty. The confrontation she and Claire had had was still fresh in her mind. She had tried so hard not to interfere with how Castiel chose to parent Claire. She felt out of place, Claire wasn’t her daughter. Claire wasn’t even Castiel’s daughter. But she was Jimmy Novak’s daughter and as Hannah thought about Caroline Johnson, she knew how determined Castiel was to try to put the pieces of Claire’s life back together for her.   
  
  
  
“We’ll find her,” Hannah insisted, trying to sound more confident than she felt. “Don’t worry, Castiel, I-”   
  
  
  
“Well, well, well,” Hannah whirled at the voice just as the sound of flapping wings and a deep masculine voice startled her into alert. As she and Castiel looked on, a figure appeared before them. A man whom Hannah recognized immediately.   
  
  
  
“Raphael,” she murmured. Of course, she could see beyond the confines of the human vessel as the archangel sauntered over to them, prompting them both to pull out their angel blades.   
  
  
  
“Oh Hannah, looks like we messed up again didn’t we?” Raphael taunted. Hannah arched a brow in confusion.   
  
  
  
“Again?” she asked. When Castiel glanced at her for an explanation, she sighed. “Raphael raised and trained me as a fledgling,” she told him. “Just as Gabriel did for you. Only… he wasn’t quite as pleasant in his teachings.”   
  
  
  
“What do you want with her now?” Castiel demanded, moving closer to Hannah. “How did you get out of the empty?”   
  
  
  
“Well you know, the empty isn’t as stable as it used to be thanks to that Nephilim of yours,” Raphael replied to Castiel even as he focused his attention on Hannah. She swallowed nervously, gazing down at the forest floor. That penetrating gaze of the archangel she considered a father figure had always intimidated her. “I’m here to warn you about that abomination you are carrying.”   
  
  
  
Hannah whisked her head up to face him, instantly on the defense. “How do you know about that?” she demanded as Raphael stepped closer to her, only to be cut off by Castiel, who stepped between the two, holding an angel blade out in warning.   
  
  
  
Raphael stopped short, his eyes on the blade. “You are lucky I am not at full strength, Castiel,” he warned. “Or do you remember what I did to you?”   
  
  
  
“I remember,” Castiel replied as Hannah gripped him on the upper arm, grounding him for her own strength as well as for his. “And you aren’t going to do anything to Hannah or our child or do I need to remind you what I once did to you?”   
  
  
  
Raphael scoffed. “If I had the strength I would rip that vile abomination from you myself,” he snapped hotly in Hannah’s direction before glancing at Castiel. “Castiel, perhaps you are unaware of your reputation in heaven. You are a rebel. The scourge of heaven. Where you go destruction follows. You are the reason for heaven’s current predicament. Do you really think we would be okay with you conceiving a child with this whore?”   
  
  
  
Hannah scowled back at the name. She knew that following Castiel would have consequences for her in heaven, that she would share his fate and his reputation among angels. It had been hard to get used to at first, after all, being cut off from heaven like a disease had hurt. As she had been brought back from the empty a seraph, she hadn’t suffered a loss of her powers, but it took her a while to get used to the fact that other angels now hated her like they hated Castiel.   
  
  
  
“Don’t call her that,” Castiel warned, his voice low and dangerous. Raphael shrugged.   
  
  
  
“You know, I knew she’d fall for your lies, Castiel,” the archangel said casually. “Wouldn’t be the first time she disappointed me. In fact, she’s been doing it over and over. I wouldn’t have had to punish her so much if she’d just do what she was told. But she had one thing most angels lack- emotions. Feelings. They made her weak.”   
  
  
  
Hannah lowered her gaze now, feeling ashamed. She didn’t remember defying Raphael all that much. She remembered always obeying him, carrying out her orders like a good soldier. It was only after meeting Castiel that she had chosen to rebel- but emotions. That was something she had always had. This passion she felt inside of her, the ability to shed a tear when someone was hurting, to feel empathy at the things her people did. That was something she always had, and it was something she knew made her different than other angels. Weaker…   
  
  
  
“I never defied you, Raphael,” she replied, softly. “I tried to do everything you asked. I never wanted to disappoint you.”   
  
  
  
Raphael scoffed. “Oh you did, you just don’t remember,” he informed her. She frowned, exchanging concerned glances with Castiel. “But you are starting to. In any case, that’s not that I am here to talk about. The child. I want it.”   
  
  
  
“No,” Castiel replied. “Why does it upset you so much?”   
  
  
  
“Because it’s not supposed to be!” Raphael exclaimed in frustration. “Didn’t that occur to you, Castiel? A child born of two angels? Angels aren’t supposed to be able to conceive at all whether it be with another angel or a human or whatever! Don’t you know how rare it is? Did you ever give a thought as to what it is you are creating?”   
  
  
  
“Our child won’t be a Nephilim,” Hannah replied. “My grace is intact. And we don’t know how it was conceived, but we aren’t giving it up either.”   
  
  
  
“No it won’t be a Nephilim,” Raphael replied. “But it will be something, and it won’t be pleasant. A soul-sucking abomination. That is what you are carrying, Hannah.”   
  
  
  
Dread dropped into the pit of Hannah’s stomach like rocks. Castiel’s horrified expression mirrored her own as realization dawned on both of them. “A Grigori…” Castiel murmured before they both glanced back at Raphael.   
  
  
  
“It’s the next worst thing after a Nephilim,” Raphael reminded them while Hannah stood there feeling her heart hammering in her ears, knots forming in her stomach making it hard to breathe. Raphael grinned, knowing he had them both. “You know what you both have to do. Don’t say I never did anything for you.”   
  
  
  
And with a flap of his wings, Raphael was gone. Hannah swallowed back the bile rising up her throat as she struggled not to be sick to her stomach- or pass out, she wasn’t quite sure which sounded more probable at this point. “Raphael could be lying,” Castiel pointed out, his voice uncertain. “He’s just trying to upset you.”   
  
  
  
“He succeeded,” Hannah replied. “What if he isn’t lying? What if it’s the only explanation for this?”   
  
  
  
“Stop,” Castiel warned, taking both of her hands in both of his and bringing them up to his lips. “We don’t know anything for certain,” he said as he kissed her balled up fists. “And even if we did… I don’t care.”   
  
  
  
“But a Grigori…” Hannah stammered, looking at him through eyes glistening with unshed tears of fear and dread. “Disgusting abominations…”   
  
  
  
“Is that what you feel when you think of our child?” Castiel wanted to know. “Is that what you feel when you think of Jack?”   
  
  
  
“Jack is different,” Hannah replied. “He’s kind and selfless.”   
  
  
  
“And so will our child,” Castiel assured her. “Grigori or not. If the son of Lucifer can be redeemable than so can the child of two fallen angels.”   
  
  
  
Hannah nodded as Castiel pulled her into his arms, kissing her head as she braced herself against him. She couldn’t shrug away the doubt so easily, quickly, but she knew she didn’t want to give up on this child growing inside of her. “Let’s find Claire,” she insisted, glancing up at him, eyes meeting his. He only smiled and nodded as they resumed their search through the forest.   
  
  
  
**   
  
  
  
Meanwhile, deep in the forest, Claire gazed around at the cabin she and Kaia had taken refuge in. Now that the light of day illuminated the world around them, she got a look at the cabin clearly for the first time.   
  
  
  
Standing in the safety of the salt circle they had huddled in all night, she exchanged tired but curious glances at Kaia. This wasn’t the old deer hunter’s lodge she expected to find herself in. It was old. The furnishings and the state of decay told her that.   
  
  
  
Green algae, mold, and vines climbed the cracked and rotted mold walls. The floorboards were broken. Faded dusty rugs lay loosely on the floor. A crack, splintered wooden table, and chairs rested in front of the fireplace where an iron pot had been left.   
  
  
  
Paintings hung from the walls, and that is what caught Claire’s eye. Though the picture was faded and damaged, she did see the faint image of a woman staring back at her. Curiosity getting the best of her, Claire took a step out of the salt circle and started to move closer to the painting on the far side of the wall when Kaia grabbed her shoulder.   
  
  
  
“Hey!” she exclaimed. “The ghosts.”   
  
  
  
“Don’t worry,” Claire assured her. “I’ll be careful. This place… it looks so old.”   
  
  
  
“Yeah tell me about it,” Kaia said, glancing around the place herself. “Look at those chairs. Total grandma status.”   
  
  
  
“I’m not exactly a model student or anything,” Claire replied. “But this stuff looks way older than either of our grandmas.” Kaia nodded and walked close to Claire as the two of them stepped cautiously out of the circle and moved towards the far wall.   
  
  
  
As she peered closer at the painting, Claire knew she was looking at someone very familiar. A woman dressed in a colonial-era dress and bonnet. She looked young, her dark hair woven into a bun, her deep blue eyes, with a square face and soft features. “She looks like Hannah,” Claire commented.   
  
  
  
“Who?” Kaia glanced at her. Claire frowned, thinking back on why she was here in the first place. She had been running away from her life and all the people in it and now, was she really so determined to go through with it?   
  
  
  
“Just… someone I know,” Claire replied. She noticed a small staircase off the side of the room, but it was so damaged she didn’t feel confident that it or the second floor could hold her weight.   
  
  
  
“Come on,” she told Kaia. “Werewolves aren’t around during the day we can make it back before nightfall.”   
  
  
  
“Back where?” Kaia wanted to know as they headed for the door. It still puzzled Claire why the werewolf wasn’t able to get into the cabin. At the stage of decay, it was in; there were cracks and holes everywhere. The windows were shattered, nature had long since begun to invade, anything could have easily gotten inside.   
  
  
  
“Did you come from town?” Claire asked as they stepped outside. The air was chilly and misty around them, and a brisk wind blew about the place.   
  
  
  
Kaia only shrugged, glancing away. “Yeah,” she said. “I was just passing through.” A sad, downtrodden tone of voice told Claire that there was something to Kaia. She glanced at the other young girl. “What about you, where were you going? Did you have some Halloween party to go to or something?”   
  
  
  
Claire considered her answer before responding. She wasn’t quite ready to talk about her home life, so she just nodded. “Yeah, Halloween,” she said softly.   
  
  
  
The two of them gazed around the forest. “Hold on,” she said to Kaia, turning back towards the house. “I want to check something.”   
  
  
  
“Check what?” Kaia turned around to glance at her. Claire glanced back at her as she headed around the house.   
  
  
  
“I just wanted to see what’s behind it,” she explained as she climbed up and over fallen branches and vines that had ensnared the sides of the house in a web of foliage. Perhaps it was her knowledge of the paranormal, but something urged Claire to look at this place a little closer. Kaia hurried off after her.   
  
  
  
**   
  
  
  
Hannah and Castiel continued to search the forest. Hannah’s mind was still humming wit fear over their encounter with Raphael and what it could mean, but the important thing now was to find Claire. Nothing else mattered right now.   
  
  
  
As Hannah stepped into a clearing, she stopped short when she saw what was waiting for her. A young girl. Hannah recognized her as the same girl she had seen at the pumpkin patch. The bonnet wearing dark-haired girl dressed in the dark red dress, her piercing blue eyes looking oddly familiar.   
  
  
  
“Castiel…” Hannah whispered, her eyes fixed on the girl. “Do you see her?”   
  
  
  
Castiel looked at what had drawn Hannah’s gaze but frowned. “See who?” he asked, puzzled. Hannah glanced at Castiel, bewildered as it was clear as his eyes searched the clearing, that he had not seen anything.   
  
  
  
“The girl,” Hannah said. The girl seemed just to be standing there, staring. “I saw her once before at the pumpkin patch. She seems so familiar.”   
  
  
  
“Hannah…” the concerned tone in Castiel’s voice as he looked her over had Hannah sighing in frustration.   
  
  
  
“I think she wants me to follow her,” Hannah said as she started towards the girl. Castiel hesitated but followed her as well. The girl turned and took off into the forest. Gasping, Hannah bolted off after her, bounding through the forest trying desperately to keep up as she heard Castiel hurrying beside her, no doubt confused as to what was happening.   
  
  
  
When they reached another clearing, the girl suddenly disappeared, and Hannah frowned. She looked at Castiel. “You never saw her?” she said with concern.   
  
  
  
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Castiel said, catching a breath. “Maybe we should-”   
  
  
  
“Castiel!” came a familiar voice. The two whirled to see Claire and Kaia standing in front of the dilapidated ruins of the wooden cabin.   
  
  
  
“Claire!” Castiel hurried over and pulled the girl into his arms. “We have been looking for you all night!”   
  
  
  
“I’m sorry…” Claire murmured. Hannah noted that she seemed pale and fatigued. Hannah noticed the other girl with her. “This is Kaia.”   
  
  
  
“You are freezing,” Castiel pointed out. “I’m taking you and your friend to the hospital.”   
  
  
  
“I don’t need to go to the hospital,” Claire protested. “Just come see something real quick.” Castiel and Hannah followed Claire, and as they neared the house, Hannah was suddenly overcome with the rush of images surging through her mind.   
  
  
  
“Ahh!” she gasped, gripping her head and falling to her knees. In her mind, she saw a girl, the same girl, laying in a bed, this cabin looked so familiar. She saw herself, her own hands, her body, sitting at the girl’s bedside. She didn’t understand what this meant.   
  
  
  
“Hannah?” Castiel was at her side in moments, holding her shoulders as she struggled to her feet. “Are you alright?”   
  
  
  
Hannah closed her eyes tightly, getting to her feet as the images began to fade from her mind. “Yes,” she breathed, gripping Castiel’s coat tightly as he helped her back to her feet. Claire took her through the cabin, showing them both the painting.   
  
  
  
“Her name is Scarlett Vermuellen,” Hannah mused as she stared at the painting, blinking blearily. Claire looked at her.   
  
  
  
“How do you know?” the teen asked. Hannah glanced at her and noted there was none of the usual defensive hostility she had come to expect from Claire. The girl’s expression was a sea of curiosity and concern. Hannah shook her head.   
  
  
  
“I don’t know,” she said. “I just do…. Except,” she realized something. “Caroline’s maiden name was Vermuellen.”   
  
  
  
“That is a strange coincidence,” Castiel commented as he held her steady.   
  
  
  
“Come on there’s something else,” Claire lead them out and around the cabin to the back where Hannah gasped at the sight.   
  
  
  
There stood two small stone gravestones. One was labeled ‘Scarlett Vermuellen 1674 to 1696.’ The other gravestone read ‘Violet Vermuellen 1691 to 1696.’   
  
  
  
Hannah knelt in front of Violet’s gravestone, running her fingers over the cold slab of stone. “I know her,” she murmured softly. “This is the girl I have been seeing. Violet Vermuellen. I don’t know how but… I think she was my daughter.”   
  
  
  
She didn’t know how she could know this; the information was simply in her head. As if someone had merely added information that hadn’t been there before. But seeing these gravestones, she suddenly felt driven to understand it. This house, this crumbling ramshackle of a house which by all accounts should have rotted away long ago yet was still standing, the girl who had been following her around all over town, the dreams, the visions, they all seemed to converge on this gravestone. She had to get to the bottom of this.   
  
  
  



	9. Chapter 9

“I’m telling you she was coming onto both of us like a drunken prom queen,” Gabriel explained as he paced in front of Dean and Castiel who sat together in the waiting room at the emergency room.

“And that’s a bad thing?” Dean replied. Castiel watched the archangel pace about anxiously. After dropping Hannah and Jo off at the library to do some research regarding the strange house in the forest, Castiel and Dean had gone to the hospital together to get Claire, and Kaia checked out and to meet up with Sam and Gabriel after they had taken Eileen in.

“Okay it’s not like I’m complaining, but Sam seemed concerned about it,” Gabriel explained. “I mean we found her naked outside in the forest not half an hour earlier, you would think that to do the fun dance with two guys would have been the last thing on her mind.”

“Apparently it wasn’t,” Castiel offered. As the angel sat there, he happened to take note of the emergency room around him. It wasn’t terribly crowded for a weekday afternoon. This was a small hospital serving many of the small towns in the region.

Castiel tried his best to focus on what Gabriel was saying. Finding Eileen out in the forest with no memory of how she had gotten there, and then being confronted with her abnormal behavior had apparently been perplexing to the archangel, but Castiel found himself preoccupied with his own circumstances. It seemed like the world was caving in on him and he was desperately swimming just to stay afloat. Claire had tried to run away from him, from the life he had tried to provide for her. Lucifer might be alive and after Jack. Hannah might be carrying an abomination, and she was having disturbing visions and memories. Trying to navigate through all of these concerns had left Castiel feeling as though he was being pulled in many different directions.

“Mr. Novak?” the doctor’s voice cut through his thoughts and Castiel was on his feet as the petite brunette woman in the white lab coat approached him wearing a hardened expression. “Your daughter is fine, we are treating her for minor hypothermia mostly related to exposure to the elements,” she explained as she came to a halt in front of the trio of men. “But we’d like to ask you a couple of questions before we let you see her.”

“What kind of questions,” Castiel said, nervously as he glanced at Dean and Gabriel who looked on with concern. The doctor glanced at the two men behind the angel and sighed as Dean fixed her with a confrontational stare.

“Mind if we have a moment alone?” the doctor asked, motioning towards the doors separating the main ER waiting room from the long hall leading into the rest of the hospital.

“Hey, anything you need to say to him you can say to us, Sweetheart” Dean replied sternly, getting to his feet with his arms folded across his chest in an apparent attempt to be intimidating. Castiel hesitated to be separated from Dean and Gabriel. After ten years of living on Earth, he had learned how to blend in with human society to a point, but it was still something he struggled with. The complicated way in which humans their overly complex laws.

“If you wish,” the doctor said. “But this may not help your CPS case. Your daughter’s mental state seems to have been triggered by her home life, and I’d hate to think that was intentional.” Castiel swallowed and glanced back at Dean.

“I’ll be okay, Dean,” he assured him before letting the doctor lead him through the doors. Following the woman down the hall, they stepped into a small office where the doctor turned on the lights and retrieved a folder laying on the desk.

“I see here that Claire was in foster care for a time,” the doctor began. “And that you recently took custody of her. Any reason why you lost custody of her in the first place?”

Castiel searched for the correct answer. He could tell her that he had taken Jimmy Novak away from his family. “I had a mental episode,” he explained slowly, glancing around at the room nervously as he stood in the doorway. “And during that time, her mother died.”

“And you haven’t had a relapse of this unstable mental situation?” the doctor searched through the files of papers she had. “That isn’t why Claire might have wanted to run away? Have you harmed Claire in any way?”

“No,” Castiel replied defensively, resenting the implication. “I’ve never hurt Claire. It hasn’t been easy for Claire. We moved here to Maine for a fresh start. She resents me, and she also resents Hannah.”

“Hannah?” The doctor questioned, raising a brow. “Is she your wife? Girlfriend?”

Castiel wasn’t quite sure how to respond. He and Hannah were not married, but he didn’t think girlfriend was appropriate. Matrimony in the human sense of the word was unnecessary for beings who were expected to live forever, and his connection to Hannah went far deeper than just a simple romantic engagement.

“She is my partner,” he explained. “She is currently nearly two months pregnant, and I believe telling Claire is what sparked her wanting to run away.”

“Ahh, I see,” the doctor said with a sigh. “I suppose I understand that. I recently learned I am pregnant myself and with two kids of my own, they tend to get a little jealous.”

Castiel let out a sigh of relief, thinking that he had managed to connect with the doctor and disarm any other suspicions she may have. “I am just glad we found her and that she is safe,” he said honestly. “May I please take her home?”

The doctor nodded. “Yes,” she agreed. “Although I have to tell you that since you are coming from out of state, I am referring this to CPS and they will probably want to be in contact with you. There is also the matter of the young girl you brought in with Claire.”

Castiel shrugged. “It was Halloween evening, I assumed she simply got lost in the forest,” he said, thinking about Kaia.

“She appears to be a teenage runaway,” the doctor said as she moved past Castiel and led him back out into the hallway. “We are placing her with foster care for now.”

Castiel walked behind the doctor and was relieved when he was led into a hospital room where he found Claire sitting at the edge of the bed in a hospital gown. She looked up as soon as she saw them come in.

“Claire,” Castiel hurried over to her, pulling her into his arms for a tight embrace. The girl was tense in his arms but hesitantly wrapped her arms around his waist. She felt vulnerable and fragile in his arms, and he held onto her for a few vital moments.

The doctor sensed this was an emotionally charged moment and stepped back. “I’ll get your discharge papers,” she said before leaving the room. Castiel only nodded as he rubbed his daughter’s back soothingly. As soon as the doctor was gone, he pulled away to look down into her face.

“Look I’m sorry,” she said quickly, glancing away, that stoic facade quickly returning. “I needed to get away.”

Castiel gave her a firm glance. He resisted the urge to withdraw from any attempt at discipline for fear of the usual guilt-inducing accusations Claire liked to wield. He took a few breaths and began to pace in front of the girl. “Claire, you could have been hurt,” he said. “You could have been lost in that forest forever. We have been searching for you all night, do you understand how worried I was?”

“I didn’t mean to run into the forest,” Claire retorted as if that should have redeemed her behavior somehow. “I was going to town, but Kaia and I were attacked by a werewolf, and it chased us.”

“Werewolf?” That stopped Castiel in his tracks as he pivoted to look at her, squinting in alarm. “Did you get bitten?”

Claire shook her head. “No but Kaia and I ran, that’s how we found the cabin. The werewolf couldn’t get inside.” A realization began to dawn on the angel as he listened to this new information. He recalled what Gabriel had said about Eileen earlier and made a mental note to talk to Sam about the possibilities later.

“Why couldn’t the wolf get into the house?” Castiel wanted to know. Claire just shrugged her shoulders irritably.

“I don’t know maybe its cursed or something,” she replied as if Castiel should know. “Can we just go home now?”

“Yes,” Castiel replied, draping his coat over her shoulders as she slid off the bed and reached for her clothes which were in a heap in the chair nearby. “But I want you to understand how serious this was, Claire. As punishment, you will not be permitted to attend any social gatherings for a week.”

Claire scoffed. “Wait, you’re grounding me?” she demanded. Even in her irritation at the punishment, Castiel could have sworn he saw something else in her eyes. Almost as if she was impressed. He turned his back for a few moments to allow her to get dressed, turning back to find her fully clothed in her jeans and jacket, busily tying her shoes.

“Yes,” Castiel replied, encouraged by Claire’s reaction. “You are grounded. Although I’m not sure that I understand why being on the ground relates to this situation.”

Claire smirked. A genuine smile was something he hadn’t seen from the girl in all his dealings with her. “Nevermind,” she said. “Fine. I’ll be grounded I guess. Castiel?”

Her expression turned serious as he regarded her for a moment. “What is it, Claire?”

“Were you really worried about me?” the hopeful sound in her voice pulled at Castiel’s sympathies. He pursed his lips before coming over and taking both her hands in his, meeting her gaze with a look of sincerity.

“Claire, please believe me that I want to make this work,” he began. “And it’s not just out of some attempt to undo the damage I caused to your family although that certainly has a lot to do with it. But I genuinely care about your wellbeing.”

Claire lowered her gaze for a moment. After a pause in which she seemed to consider his words, she smirked, with a shrug. “I guess angels don’t really have an instruction manual for all of this,” she suggested.

“No, they don’t,” Castiel agreed. “And I know I can’t replace your father.”

“Yeah…” Claire glanced at the floor, no doubt finding the reminder uncomfortable. “Hey, speaking of fathers, what’s going to happen to Kaia?” the quick change of subject wasn’t unnoticed. “She seemed nice.”

“It appears she doesn’t have any parents,” Castiel responded. “I’m afraid I don’t understand how this human custody thing works, but the doctor claimed she would be going to foster care.”

“Do you think we could ask one of the Winchesters to take her in?” Claire asked hopefully. “She doesn’t have anyone else, and I know what that feels like.”

Castiel thought about it. “Perhaps,” he said. “For now, let’s get you home.”

With that, Castiel and Claire left the hospital behind. As the angel walked alongside the young girl, he began to feel like at least one of the many problems on his plate was getting easier. He felt as though he and Claire had finally begun to form a bond, uneasy though it was. He also realized that his worry for her safety was becoming far beyond what it was before. He’d accepted custody of her out of a sense of responsibility to Jimmy Novak, the man who had sacrificed his own body to him. Jimmy and his family were the most significant source of guilt for him, among the many other mistakes that weighed heavily on his heart.

There was a growing feeling of love and devotion within him towards Claire and towards Jack that he’d never felt before. It was different than the new feelings he had developed for Hannah, and it was different than the platonic type of love that he had for the Winchesters. The angel had never realized how many different ways he could experience the emotions associated with family. The angels were his family, and he certainly felt close to Gabriel, but this was different. Hannah, Claire, and Jack were  _ his _ family. 


End file.
